Network Working Group S. Hambridge
Request For Comments: 1855 Intel Corp.
FYI: 28 October 1995
Category: Informational
Netiquette Guidelines
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is
unlimited.
Abstract
This document provides a minimum set of guidelines for Network Etiquette
(Netiquette) which organizations may take and adapt for their own use. As
such, it is deliberately written in a bulleted format to make adaptation
easier and to make any particular item easy (or easier) to find. It also
functions as a minimum set of guidelines for individuals, both users and
administrators. This memo is the product of the Responsible Use of the
Network (RUN) Working Group of the IETF.
Table of Contents
Introduction
One-to-One Communication
One-to-Many Communication
Information Services
Selected Bibliography
Security Considerations
Author's Address
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1.0 Introduction
In the past, the population of people using the Internet had "grown up" with
the Internet, were technically minded, and understood the nature of the
transport and the protocols. Today, the community of Internet users includes
people who are new to the environment. These "Newbies" are unfamiliar with
the culture and don't need to know about transport and protocols. In order
to bring these new users into the Internet culture quickly, this Guide
offers a minimum set of behaviors which organizations and individuals may
take and adapt for their own use. Individuals should be aware that no matter
who supplies their Internet access, be it an Internet Service Provider
through a private account, or a student account at a University, or an
account through a corporation, that those organizations have regulations
about ownership of mail and files, about what is proper to post or send, and
how to present yourself. Be sure to check with the local authority for
specific guidelines.
We've organized this material into three sections: One-to-one communication,
which includes mail and talk; One-to-many communications, which includes
mailing lists and NetNews; and Information Services, which includes ftp,
WWW, Wais, Gopher, MUDs and MOOs. Finally, we have a Selected Bibliography,
which may be used for reference.
2.0 One-to-One Communication (electronic mail, talk)
We define one-to-one communications as those in which a person is
communicating with another person as if face-to-face: a dialog. In general,
rules of common courtesy for interaction with people should be in force for
any situation and on the Internet it's doubly important where, for example,
body language and tone of voice must be inferred. For more information on
Netiquette for communicating via electronic mail and talk, check references
[1,23,25,27] in the Selected Bibliography.
2.1 User Guidelines
2.1.1 For mail:
Unless you have your own Internet access through an Internet provider, be
sure to check with your employer about ownership of electronic mail. Laws
about the ownership of electronic mail vary from place to place.
Unless you are using an encryption device (hardware or software), you should
assume that mail on the Internet is not secure. Never put in a mail message
anything you would not put on a postcard.
Respect the copyright on material that you reproduce. Almost every country
has copyright laws.
If you are forwarding or re-posting a message you've received, do not change
the wording. If the message was a personal message to you and you are
re-posting to a group, you should ask permission first. You may shorten the
message and quote only relevant parts, but be sure you give proper
attribution.
Never send chain letters via electronic mail. Chain letters are forbidden on
the Internet. Your network privileges will be revoked. Notify your local
system administrator if your ever receive one.
A good rule of thumb: Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what
you receive. You should not send heated messages (we call these "flames")
even if you are provoked. On the other hand, you shouldn't be surprised if
you get flamed and it's prudent not to respond to flames.
In general, it's a good idea to at least check all your mail subjects before
responding to a message. Sometimes a person who asks you for help (or
clarification) will send another message which effectively says "Never
Mind". Also make sure that any message you respond to was directed to you.
You might be cc:ed rather than the primary recipient.
Make things easy for the recipient. Many mailers strip header information
which includes your return address. In order to ensure that people know who
you are, be sure to include a line or two at the end of your message with
contact information. You can create this file ahead of time and add it to
the end of your messages. (Some mailers do this automatically.) In Internet
parlance, this is known as a ".sig" or "signature" file. Your .sig file
takes the place of your business card. (And you can have more than one to
apply in different circumstances.)
Be careful when addressing mail. There are addresses which may go to a group
but the address looks like it is just one person. Know to whom you are
sending.
Watch cc's when replying. Don't continue to include people if the messages
have become a 2-way conversation.
In general, most people who use the Internet don't have time to answer
general questions about the Internet and its workings. Don't send
unsolicited mail asking for information to people whose names you might have
seen in RFCs or on mailing lists.
Remember that people with whom you communicate are located across the globe.
If you send a message to which you want an immediate response, the person
receiving it might be at home asleep when it arrives. Give them a chance to
wake up, come to work, and login before assuming the mail didn't arrive or
that they don't care.
Verify all addresses before initiating long or personal discourse. It's also
a good practice to include the word "Long" in the subject header so the
recipient knows the message will take time to read and respond to. Over 100
lines is considered "long".
Know whom to contact for help. Usually you will have resources close at
hand. Check locally for people who can help you with software and system
problems. Also, know whom to go to if you receive anything questionable or
illegal. Most sites also have "Postmaster" aliased to a knowledgeable user,
so you can send mail to this address to get help with mail.
Remember that the recipient is a human being whose culture, language, and
humor have different points of reference from your own. Remember that date
formats, measurements, and idioms may not travel well. Be especially careful
with sarcasm.
Use mixed case. UPPER CASE LOOKS AS IF YOU'RE SHOUTING.
Use symbols for emphasis. That *is* what I meant. Use underscores for
underlining. _War and Peace_ is my favorite book.
Use smileys to indicate tone of voice, but use them sparingly. :-) is an
example of a smiley (Look sideways). Don't assume that the inclusion of a
smiley will make the recipient happy with what you say or wipe out an
otherwise insulting comment.
Wait overnight to send emotional responses to messages. If you have really
strong feelings about a subject, indicate it via FLAME ON/OFF enclosures.
For example:
FLAME ON: This type of argument is not worth the bandwidth it takes to send
it. It's illogical and poorly reasoned. The rest of the world agrees with
me.
FLAME OFF
Do not include control characters or non-ASCII attachments in messages
unless they are MIME attachments or unless your mailer encodes these. If you
send encoded messages make sure the recipient can decode them.
Be brief without being overly terse. When replying to a message, include
enough original material to be understood but no more. It is extremely bad
form to simply reply to a message by including all the previous message:
edit out all the irrelevant material.
Limit line length to fewer than 65 characters and end a line with a carriage
return.
Mail should have a subject heading which reflects the content of the
message.
If you include a signature keep it short. Rule of thumb is no longer than 4
lines. Remember that many people pay for connectivity by the minute, and the
longer your message is, the more they pay.
Just as mail (today) may not be private, mail (and news) are (today) subject
to forgery and spoofing of various degrees of detectability. Apply common
sense "reality checks" before assuming a message is valid.
If you think the importance of a message justifies it, immediately reply
briefly to an e-mail message to let the sender know you got it, even if you
will send a longer reply later.
"Reasonable" expectations for conduct via e-mail depend on your relationship
to a person and the context of the communication. Norms learned in a
particular e-mail environment may not apply in general to your e-mail
communication with people across the Internet. Be careful with slang or
local acronyms.
The cost of delivering an e-mail message is, on the average, paid about
equally by the sender and the recipient (or their organizations). This is
unlike other media such as physical mail, telephone, TV, or radio. Sending
someone mail may also cost them in other specific ways like network
bandwidth, disk space or CPU usage. This is a fundamental economic reason
why unsolicited e-mail advertising is unwelcome (and is forbidden in many
contexts).
Know how large a message you are sending. Including large files such as
Postscript files or programs may make your message so large that it cannot
be delivered or at least consumes excessive resources. A good rule of thumb
would be not to send a file larger than 50 Kilobytes. Consider file transfer
as an alternative, or cutting the file into smaller chunks and sending each
as a separate message.
Don't send large amounts of unsolicited information to people.
If your mail system allows you to forward mail, beware the dreaded
forwarding loop. Be sure you haven't set up forwarding on several hosts so
that a message sent to you gets into an endless loop from one computer to
the next to the next.
2.1.2 For talk:
Talk is a set of protocols which allow two people to have an interactive
dialogue via computer.
Use mixed case and proper punctuation, as though you were typing a letter or
sending mail.
Don't run off the end of a line and simply let the terminal wrap; use a
Carriage Return (CR) at the end of the line. Also, don't assume your screen
size is the same as everyone else's. A good rule of thumb is to write out no
more than 70 characters, and no more than 12 lines (since you're using a
split screen).
Leave some margin; don't write to the edge of the screen.
Use two CRs to indicate that you are done and the other person may start
typing. (blank line).
Always say goodbye, or some other farewell, and wait to see a farewell from
the other person before killing the session. This is especially important
when you are communicating with someone a long way away. Remember that your
communication relies on both bandwidth (the size of the pipe) and latency
(the speed of light).
Remember that talk is an interruption to the other person. Only use as
appropriate. And never talk to strangers.
The reasons for not getting a reply are many. Don't assume that everything
is working correctly. Not all versions of talk are compatible.
If left on its own, talk re-rings the recipient. Let it ring one or two
times, then kill it.
If a person doesn't respond you might try another tty. Use finger to
determine which are open. If the person still doesn't respond, do not
continue to send.
Talk shows your typing ability. If you type slowly and make mistakes when
typing it is often not worth the time of trying to correct, as the other
person can usually see what you meant.
Be careful if you have more than one talk session going!
2.2 Administrator Issues
Be sure you have established written guidelines for dealing with situations
especially illegal, improper, or forged traffic.
Handle requests in a timely fashion - by the next business day.
Respond promptly to people who have concerns about receiving improper or
illegal messages.
Requests concerning chain letters should be handled immediately.
Explain any system rules, such as disk quotas, to your users. Make sure they
understand implications of requesting files by mail such as: Filling up
disks; running up phone bills, delaying mail, etc.
Make sure you have "Postmaster" aliased. Make sure you have "Root" aliased.
Make sure someone reads that mail.
Investigate complaints about your users with an open mind. Remember that
addresses may be forged and spoofed.
3.0 One-to-Many Communication (Mailing Lists, NetNews)
Any time you engage in One-to-Many communications, all the rules for mail
should also apply. After all, communicating with many people via one mail
message or post is quite analogous to communicating with one person with the
exception of possibly offending a great many more people than in one-to-one
communication. Therefore, it's quite important to know as much as you can
about the audience of your message.
3.1 User Guidelines
3.1.1 General Guidelines for mailing lists and NetNews
Read both mailing lists and newsgroups for one to two months before you post
anything. This helps you to get an understanding of the culture of the
group.
Do not blame the system administrator for the behavior of the system users.
Consider that a large audience will see your posts. That may include your
present or your next boss. Take care in what you write. Remember too, that
mailing lists and Newsgroups are frequently archived, and that your words
may be stored for a very long time in a place to which many people have
access.
Assume that individuals speak for themselves, and what they say does not
represent their organization (unless stated explicitly).
Remember that both mail and news take system resources. Pay attention to any
specific rules covering their uses your organization may have.
Messages and articles should be brief and to the point. Don't wander
off-topic, don't ramble and don't send mail or post messages solely to point
out other people's errors in typing or spelling. These, more than any other
behavior, mark you as an immature beginner.
Subject lines should follow the conventions of the group.
Forgeries and spoofing are not approved behavior.
Advertising is welcomed on some lists and Newsgroups, and abhorred on
others! This is another example of knowing your audience before you post.
Unsolicited advertising which is completely off-topic will most certainly
guarantee that you get a lot of hate mail.
If you are sending a reply to a message or a posting be sure you summarize
the original at the top of the message, or include just enough text of the
original to give a context. This will make sure readers understand when they
start to read your response. Since NetNews, especially, is proliferated by
distributing the postings from one host to another, it is possible to see a
response to a message before seeing the original. Giving context helps
everyone. But do not include the entire original!
Again, be sure to have a signature which you attach to your message. This
will guarantee that any peculiarities of mailers or newsreaders which strip
header information will not delete the only reference in the message of how
people may reach you.
Be careful when you reply to messages or postings. Frequently replies are
sent back to the address which originated the post - which in many cases is
the address of a list or group! You may accidentally send a personal
response to a great many people, embarrassing all involved. It's best to
type in the address instead of relying on "reply."
Delivery receipts, non-delivery notices, and vacation programs are neither
totally standardized nor totally reliable across the range of systems
connected to Internet mail. They are invasive when sent to mailing lists,
and some people consider delivery receipts an invasion of privacy. In short,
do not use them.
If you find a personal message has gone to a list or group, send an apology
to the person and to the group.
If you should find yourself in a disagreement with one person, make your
responses to each other via mail rather than continue to send messages to
the list or the group. If you are debating a point on which the group might
have some interest, you may summarize for them later.
Don't get involved in flame wars. Neither post nor respond to incendiary
material.
Avoid sending messages or posting articles which are no more than gratuitous
replies to replies.
Be careful with monospacing fonts and diagrams. These will display
differently on different systems, and with different mailers on the same
system.
There are Newsgroups and Mailing Lists which discuss topics of wide
varieties of interests. These represent a diversity of lifestyles,
religions, and cultures. Posting articles or sending messages to a group
whose point of view is offensive to you simply to tell them they are
offensive is not acceptable. Sexually and racially harassing messages may
also have legal implications. There is software available to filter items
you might find objectionable.
3.1.2 Mailing List Guidelines
There are several ways to find information about what mailing lists exist on
the Internet and how to join them. Make sure you understand your
organization's policy about joining these lists and posting to them. In
general it is always better to check local resources first before trying to
find information via the Internet. Nevertheless, there are a set of files
posted periodically to news.answers which list the Internet mailing lists
and how to subscribe to them. This is an invaluable resource for finding
lists on any topic. See also references [9,13,15] in the Selected
Bibliography.
Send subscribe and unsubscribe messages to the appropriate address. Although
some mailing list software is smart enough to catch these, not all can
ferret these out. It is your responsibility to learn how the lists work, and
to send the correct mail to the correct place. Although many many mailing
lists adhere to the convention of having a "-request" alias for sending
subscribe and unsubscribe messages, not all do. Be sure you know the
conventions used by the lists to which you subscribe.
Save the subscription messages for any lists you join. These usually tell
you how to unsubscribe as well.
In general, it's not possible to retrieve messages once you have sent them.
Even your system administrator will not be able to get a message back once
you have sent it. This means you must make sure you really want the message
to go as you have written it.
The auto-reply feature of many mailers is useful for in-house communication,
but quite annoying when sent to entire mailing lists. Examine "Reply-To"
addresses when replying to messages from lists. Most auto-replys will go to
all members of the list.
Don't send large files to mailing lists when Uniform Resource Locators
(URLs) or pointers to ftp-able versions will do. If you want to send it as
multiple files, be sure to follow the culture of the group. If you don't
know what that is, ask.
Consider unsubscribing or setting a "nomail" option (when it's available)
when you cannot check your mail for an extended period.
When sending a message to more than one mailing list, especially if the
lists are closely related, apologize for cross-posting.
If you ask a question, be sure to post a summary. When doing so, truly
summarize rather than send a cumulation of the messages you receive.
Some mailing lists are private. Do not send mail to these lists uninvited.
Do not report mail from these lists to a wider audience.
If you are caught in an argument, keep the discussion focused on issues
rather than the personalities involved.
3.1.3 NetNews Guidelines
NetNews is a globally distributed system which allows people to communicate
on topics of specific interest. It is divided into hierarchies, with the
major divisions being: sci - science related discussions; comp - computer
related discussions; news - for discussions which center around NetNews
itself; rec - recreational activities; soc - social issues; talk -
long-winded never-ending discussions; biz - business related postings; and
alt - the alternate hierarchy. Alt is so named because creating an alt group
does not go through the same process as creating a group in the other parts
of the hierarchy. There are also regional hierarchies, hierarchies which are
widely distributed such as Bionet, and your place of business may have its
own groups as well. Recently, a "humanities" hierarchy was added, and as
time goes on its likely more will be added. For longer discussions on News
see references [2,8,22,23] in the Selected Bibliography.
In NetNews parlance, "Posting" refers to posting a new article to a group,
or responding to a post someone else has posted. "Cross-Posting" refers to
posting a message to more than one group. If you introduce Cross-Posting to
a group, or if you direct "Followup-To:" in the header of your posting, warn
readers! Readers will usually assume that the message was posted to a
specific group and that followups will go to that group. Headers change this
behavior.
Read all of a discussion in progress (we call this a thread) before posting
replies. Avoid posting "Me Too" messages, where content is limited to
agreement with previous posts. Content of a follow-up post should exceed
quoted content.
Send mail when an answer to a question is for one person only. Remember that
News has global distribution and the whole world probably is NOT interested
in a personal response. However, don't hesitate to post when something will
be of general interest to the Newsgroup participants.
Check the "Distribution" section of the header, but don't depend on it. Due
to the complex method by which News is delivered, Distribution headers are
unreliable. But, if you are posting something which will be of interest to a
limited number or readers, use a distribution line that attempts to limit
the distribution of your article to those people. For example, set the
Distribution to be "nj" if you are posting an article that will be of
interest only to New Jersey readers.
If you feel an article will be of interest to more than one Newsgroup, be
sure to CROSSPOST the article rather than individually post it to those
groups. In general, probably only five-to-six groups will have similar
enough interests to warrant this.
Consider using Reference sources (Computer Manuals, Newspapers, help files)
before posting a question. Asking a Newsgroup where answers are readily
available elsewhere generates grumpy "RTFM" (read the fine manual - although
a more vulgar meaning of the word beginning with "f" is usually implied)
messages.
Although there are Newsgroups which welcome advertising, in general it is
considered nothing less than criminal to advertise off-topic products.
Sending an advertisement to each and every group will pretty much guarantee
your loss of connectivity.
If you discover an error in your post, cancel it as soon as possible.
DO NOT attempt to cancel any articles but your own. Contact your
administrator if you don't know how to cancel your post, or if some other
post, such as a chain letter, needs canceling.
If you've posted something and don't see it immediately, don't assume it's
failed and re-post it.
Some groups permit (and some welcome) posts which in other circumstances
would be considered to be in questionable taste. Still, there is no
guarantee that all people reading the group will appreciate the material as
much as you do. Use the Rotate utility (which rotates all the characters in
your post by 13 positions in the alphabet) to avoid giving offense. The
Rot13 utility for Unix is an example.
In groups which discuss movies or books it is considered essential to mark
posts which disclose significant content as "Spoilers". Put this word in
your Subject: line. You may add blank lines to the beginning of your post to
keep content out of sight, or you may Rotate it.
Forging of news articles is generally censured. You can protect yourself
from forgeries by using software which generates a manipulation detection
"fingerprint", such as PGP (in the US).
Postings via anonymous servers are accepted in some Newsgroups and disliked
in others. Material which is inappropriate when posted under one's own name
is still inappropriate when posted anonymously.
Expect a slight delay in seeing your post when posting to a moderated group.
The moderator may change your subject line to have your post conform to a
particular thread.
Don't get involved in flame wars. Neither post nor respond to incendiary
material.
3.2 Administrator Guidelines
3.2.1 General Issues
Clarify any policies your site has regarding its subscription to NetNews
groups and about subscribing to mailing lists.
Clarify any policies your site has about posting to NetNews groups or to
mailing lists, including use of disclaimers in .sigs.
Clarify and publicize archive policy. (How long are articles kept?)
Investigate accusations about your users promptly and with an open mind.
Be sure to monitor the health of your system.
Consider how long to archive system logs, and publicize your policy on
logging.
3.2.2 Mailing Lists
Keep mailing lists up to date to avoid the "bouncing mail" problem.
Help list owners when problems arise.
Inform list owners of any maintenance windows or planned downtime.
Be sure to have "-request" aliases for list subscription and administration.
Make sure all mail gateways operate smoothly.
3.2.3. NetNews
Publicize the nature of the feed you receive. If you do not get a full feed,
people may want to know why not.
Be aware that the multiplicity of News Reader clients may cause the News
Server being blamed for problems in the clients.
Honor requests from users immediately if they request cancellation of their
own posts or invalid posts, such as chain letters.
Have "Usenet", "Netnews" and "News" aliased and make sure someone reads the
mail.
3.3 Moderator Guidelines
3.3.1 General Guidelines
Make sure your Frequestly Asked Questions (FAQ) is posted at regular
intervals. Include your guidelines for articles/messages. If you are not the
FAQ maintainer, make sure they do so.
Make sure you maintain a good welcome message, which contains subscribe and
unsubscribe information.
Newsgroups should have their charter/guidelines posted regularly.
Keep mailing lists and Newsgroups up to date. Post messages in a timely
fashion. Designate a substitute when you go on vacation or out of town.
4.0 Information Services (Gopher, Wais, WWW, ftp, telnet)
In recent Internet history, the 'Net has exploded with new and varied
Information services. Gopher, Wais, World Wide Web (WWW), Multi-User
Dimensions (MUDs) Multi-User Dimensions which are Object Oriented (MOOs) are
a few of these new areas. Although the ability to find information is
exploding, "Caveat Emptor" remains constant. For more information on these
services, check references [14,28] in the Selected Bibliography.
4.1 User Guidelines
4.1.1. General guidelines
Remember that all these services belong to someone else. The people who pay
the bills get to make the rules governing usage. Information may be free -
or it may not be! Be sure you check.
If you have problems with any form of information service, start problem
solving by checking locally: Check file configurations, software setup,
network connections, etc. Do this before assuming the problem is at the
provider's end and/or is the provider's fault.
Although there are naming conventions for file-types used, don't depend on
these file naming conventions to be enforced. For example, a ".doc" file is
not always a Word file.
Information services also use conventions, such as www.xyz.com. While it is
useful to know these conventions, again, don't necessarily rely on them.
Know how file names work on your own system.
Be aware of conventions used for providing information during sessions. FTP
sites usually have files named README in a top level directory which have
information about the files available. But, don't assume that these files
are necessarily up-to-date and/or accurate.
Do NOT assume that ANY information you find is up-to-date and/or accurate.
Remember that new technologies allow just about anyone to be a publisher,
but not all people have discovered the responsibilities which accompany
publishing.
Remember that unless you are sure that security and authentication
technology is in use, that any information you submit to a system is being
transmitted over the Internet "in the clear", with no protection from
"sniffers" or forgers.
Since the Internet spans the globe, remember that Information Services might
reflect culture and life-style markedly different from your own community.
Materials you find offensive may originate in a geography which finds them
acceptable. Keep an open mind.
When wanting information from a popular server, be sure to use a mirror
server that's close if a list is provided.
Do not use someone else's FTP site to deposit materials you wish other
people to pick up. This is called "dumping" and is not generally acceptable
behavior.
When you have trouble with a site and ask for help, be sure to provide as
much information as possible in order to help debug the problem.
When bringing up your own information service, such as a homepage, be sure
to check with your local system administrator to find what the local
guidelines are in affect.
Consider spreading out the system load on popular sites by avoiding "rush
hour" and logging in during off-peak times.
4.1.2 Real Time Interactive Services Guidelines (MUDs MOOs IRC)
As in other environments, it is wise to "listen" first to get to know the
culture of the group.
It's not necessary to greet everyone on a channel or room personally.
Usually one "Hello" or the equivalent is enough. Using the automation
features of your client to greet people is not acceptable behavior.
Warn the participants if you intend to ship large quantities of information.
If all consent to receiving it, you may send, but sending unwanted
information without a warning is considered bad form just as it is in mail.
Don't assume that people who you don't know will want to talk to you. If you
feel compelled to send private messages to people you don't know, then be
willing to accept gracefully the fact that they might be busy or simply not
want to chat with you.
Respect the guidelines of the group. Look for introductory materials for the
group. These may be on a related ftp site.
Don't badger other users for personal information such as sex, age, or
location. After you have built an acquaintance with another user, these
questions may be more appropriate, but many people hesitate to give this
information to people with whom they are not familiar.
If a user is using a nickname alias or pseudonym, respect that user's desire
for anonymity. Even if you and that person are close friends, it is more
courteous to use his nickname. Do not use that person's real name online
without permission.
4.2 Administrator Guidelines
4.2.1 General Guidelines
Make clear what's available for copying and what is not.
Describe what's available on your site, and your organization. Be sure any
general policies are clear.
Keep information, especially READMEs, up-to-date. Provide READMEs in plain
ascii text.
Present a list of mirrors of your site if you know them. Make sure you
include a statement of copyright applicable to your mirrors. List their
update schedule if possible.
Make sure that popular (and massive) information has the bandwidth to
support it.
Use conventions for file extensions - .txt for ascii text; .html or .htm for
HTML; .ps for Postscript; .pdf for Portable Document Format; .sgml or .sgm
for SGML; .exe for non-Unix executables, etc.
For files being transferred, try to make filenames unique in the first eight
characters.
When providing information, make sure your site has something unique to
offer. Avoid bringing up an information service which simply points to other
services on the Internet.
Don't point to other sites without asking first.
Remember that setting up an information service is more than just design and
implementation. It's also maintenance.
Make sure your posted materials are appropriate for the supporting
organization.
Test applications with a variety of tools. Don't assume everything works if
you've tested with only one client. Also, assume the low end of technology
for clients and don't create applications which can only be used by
Graphical User Interfaces.
Have a consistent view of your information. Make sure the look and feel
stays the same throughout your applications.
Be sensitive to the longevity of your information. Be sure to date
time-sensitive materials, and be vigilant about keeping this information
well maintained.
Export restrictions vary from country to country. Be sure you understand the
implications of export restrictions when you post.
Tell users what you plan to do with any information you collect, such as WWW
feedback. You need to warn people if you plan to publish any of their
statements, even passively by just making it available to other users.
Make sure your policy on user information services, such as homepages, is
well known.
5.0 Selected Bibliography
This bibliography was used to gather most of the information in the sections
above as well as for general reference. Items not specifically found in
these works were gathered from the IETF-RUN Working Group's experience.
Angell, D., and B. Heslop, "The Elements of E-mail Style", New York:
Addison-Wesley, 1994.
"Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet"
Original author: jerry@eagle.UUCP (Jerry Schwarz)
Maintained by: netannounce@deshaw.com (Mark Moraes)
Archive-name: usenet-faq/part1
Cerf, V., "Guidelines for Conduct on and Use of Internet", at: here
Dern, D., "The Internet Guide for New Users", New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.
"Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette"
Original author: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)
Maintained by: netannounce@deshaw.com (Mark Moraes)
Archive-name: emily-postnews/part1
Gaffin, A., "Everybody's Guide to the Internet", Cambridge, Mass., MIT
Press, 1994.
"Guidelines for Responsible Use of the Internet" from the US house of
Representatives gopher
How to find the right place to post (FAQ)
by buglady@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Aliza R. Panitz)
Archive-name: finding-groups/general
Hambridge, S., and J. Sedayao, "Horses and Barn Doors: Evolution of
Corporate Guidelines for Internet Usage", LISA VII, Usenix, November 1-5,
1993, pp. 9-16.
Heslop, B., and D. Angell, "The Instant Internet guide : Hands-on Global
Networking", Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley, 1994.
Horwitz, S., "Internet Etiquette Tips", here.
Internet Activities Board, "Ethics and the Internet", RFC 1087, IAB, January
1989.
Kehoe, B., "Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide", Netiquette
information is spread through the chapters of this work. 3rd ed. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ., Prentice-Hall, 1994.
Kochmer, J., "Internet Passport: NorthWestNet's Guide to our World Online",
4th ed. Bellevue, Wash., NorthWestNet, Northwest Academic Computing
Consortium, 1993.
Krol, Ed, "The Whole Internet: User's Guide and Catalog", Sebastopol, CA,
O'Reilly & Associates, 1992.
Lane, E. and C. Summerhill, "Internet Primer for Information Professionals:
a basic guide to Internet networking technology", Westport, CT, Meckler,
1993.
LaQuey, T., and J. Ryer, "The Internet Companion", Chapter 3 "Communicating
with People", pp 41-74. Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley, 1993.
Mandel, T., "Surfing the Wild Internet", SRI International Business
Intelligence Program, Scan No. 2109. March, 1993.
Martin, J., "There's Gold in them thar Networks! or Searching for Treasure
in all the Wrong Places", FYI 10, RFC 1402, January 1993.
Pioch, N., "A Short IRC Primer", Text conversion by Owe Rasmussen. Edition
1.1b, February 28, 1993.
Polly, J., "Surfing the Internet: an Introduction", Version 2.0.3. Revised
May 15, 1993.
"A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community"
Original author: chuq@apple.com (Chuq Von Rospach)
Maintained by: netannounce@deshaw.com (Mark Moraes)
Archive-name: usenet-primer/part1
Rinaldi, A., "The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette", September 3, 1992.
"Rules for posting to Usenet"
Original author: spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
Maintained by: netannounce@deshaw.com (Mark Moraes)
Archive-name: posting-rules/part1
Shea, V., "Netiquette", San Francisco: Albion Books, 1994?.
Strangelove, M., with A. Bosley, "How to Advertise on the Internet", ISSN
1201-0758.
Tenant, R., "Internet Basics", ERIC Clearinghouse of Information Resources,
EDO-IR-92-7. September, 1992. here.
Wiggins, R., "The Internet for everyone: a guide for users and providers",
New York, McGraw-Hill, 1995.
6.0 Security Considerations
Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
7.0 Author's Address
Sally Hambridge
Intel Corporation
2880 Northwestern Parkway
SC3-15
Santa Clara, CA 95052
Phone: 408-765-2931
Fax: 408-765-3679
EMail: sallyh@ludwig.sc.intel.com
