Why is netiquette necessary?

Because the Internet has no central government, no owners. Its success is (and has been) entirely based on informal agreements between individual users everywhere around the world. When those agreements are ignored, information (what makes the net great) is buried in chaos. Netiquette is about treating people you've never met with respect -- which is why it's often hard to do.

Isn't netiquette just common sense?

You tell me. Is etiquette in the world at large "common sense?" The net continues to grow -- and new users must have a chance to learn what old users know. Even old users must relearn netiquette -- and to modify and correct it as new situations arise or as consensus changes.

Here is a very brief list of points of good netiquette. If you follow these points within e-mail or Usenet you can't go wrong:

• Work with plain text. Don't embed graphics or other binary files in your e-mails or posts. If your mail/news software works with HTML as a default, turn that default off. Your software may be able to read such files, but can you be sure that's true for others?
• Target the smallest audience possible that will get the job done. Don't post to multiple newsgroups if your audience is in one. Don't post to a newsgroup if your audience is a mailing list. Don't post to a newsgroup or mailing list if your audience is one person, or two. Don't assume uninterested parties will do your targeting for you by ignoring a message.

  I have seen co-workers tell mailing lists of 50 people or more that "I can't make it for lunch that day. I have plans." If you do this, it will make you look like an idiot. (I've had co-workers call me "anal-retentive" and worse for pointing this out, but the lunch notes are a good place to learn this behavior -- before you send a note to a large group insulting your boss or gossiping about a co-worker's affair. You'll never hear anything if you do this right, as is the case with most good behaviour, but I offer a 100% guarantee you'll hear about it from someone if you don't.)

• Write as little as you can get away with and still get to the point. Keep in mind that people have other things to do, and that reading the computer screen is one of the most eye-straining tasks they have. This covers not only your own composition, but also whatever writing you may be quoting in other articles.
  • Don't quote an entire article in your responses -- just what's relevant.
  • Don't have a long signature file at the end of your messages.
  • Don't send a message at all if it doesn't contain new (as opposed to yesterday's news) non-trivial (as opposed to "I agree") information.

• Be polite. There's someone on the other end of that message. Someone whose feelings can be tweaked -- and, more to the point, someone whose influence you might need someday.
  • Avoid flame wars where possible. If you are flamed, go get some coffee or go out to lunch or run errands or take a bath or take a BREATH before you respond. Then, if you must respond, try to do it privately. If you participate in a flame war, even if you're right, even if you're humorous, you still lose credibility you may need later.
  • Gush over people who help you. Better than that, summarize their help for the benefit of others! This will ensure you get the help you need next time you ask!
  • Avoid known controversies where possible. If you bring up a subject and it turns out to be controversial, lurk until you can participate without losing your temper. If you can keep your temper, that is.

References

Ask Emily Postnews, http://www.templetons.com/brad/emily.html, to learn how to do things wrong with style! :-) Although some of Brad Templeton's examples are now dated, his applied wit is timeless.

Hobbes' Internet Timeline, http://www.isoc.org/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html, describes some of the major technical and social events that have gotten us to where we are.

Brendan Kehoe's Zen and the Art of the Internet, http://www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/zen/zen-1.0_toc.html, gives us technical and social background on e-mail, Usenet, netiquette in general, and many other subjects!