Rules of the Net: Online Operating Instructions for Human Beings - Softcover

Van Der Leun, Gerard; Mandel, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786881356 ISBN 13: 9780786881352

Publisher: Hyperion, 1996

Explains how to become a master of the "Twelve Essential Commandments of Good Net Behavior," learn appropriate e-mail etiquette, how to properly converse with fellow net surfers, and become a responsible cybercitizen. Original. (All Users).

Review:

If you're baffled by the customs, protocol, and unwritten laws that seem to drive life on the Net, you need "Rules of the Net." This wise collection of rules, commandments and wisdom helps net newbies to survive and thrive in cyberspace, and it sure wouldn't kill many net oldtimers to pick up on some of the advice . As the book so elegantly points out: On the Net, you are what you do.

From Booklist:

The Internet sometimes seems like the Wild West, where someone is as likely to shoot you virtually as shake your hand; as the authors note, it's "rapidly becoming a real place, a vast sprawl of experimental boomtowns, inhabited by computer-literate people." Among these cybercitizens, norms of courtesy and common sense are often lacking. To instill a bit of order into this heady chaos, rules of netiquette have been developed. Pokey's Law, for example, sets down a truth: "Grammar/spelling flames usually contain grammar/spelling errors." Of course, these rules are optional, but if Net users keep getting their feelings hurt by members of groups in which they participate, they can look here for wisdom about how life operates on the Net. Each chapter concludes with a commandment of cyberspace, which encompasses "Thou shalt not blatantly seek profit" and "Thou shalt not be a bandwidth pig." Whether the reader is a newbie or a veteran traveler, this handbook will benefit all levels of cyberculture. Jennifer Henderson