Wednesday, May 19, 2010

What ever happened to manners???

Why is it that people think that they can behave badly or be rude when posting comments or responding to online posts by others??  Just because you are not face to face with a person doesn't give any anyone the right to forget your manners and social ettiquette.

With the evolution of technology and the ability to communicate via many various means, many people seem to have lost sight of the basic skills required.  Social ettiquete now requires "nettiquette" which is the behaviour one should display when using the internet to chat or post messages.

My philosophy is that you should speak to people the way you wish to be spoken to. When it comes down to communicating / social networking it's just the same as sitting in the same room as a group of people only that it is a far larger group and what you say and how you behave is seen by more people.  You are putting yourself out there and what you say or do represents you.  It is important to consider how your comments, statements and behaviour will be perceived. If you want to be heard and respected the proper netiquette is necessary.

Our parents and teachers taught us the the practice of good manners - being polite and helpful, being kind and not aggressive, being mindful of the fact that others may see things differently than ourselves.  Netiquette is no different.  Being polite to others is all the more important on the net because there are no facial expressions tone of voice or body language to help us understand another person, as there is in face to face meetings.
 
I say ...
  • if you wouldn't say something to someone in person then why be a coward and post it? 
  • if you don't have anything nice to say then DON'T say it at all
  • sometimes saying nothing is better than saying something
Freedom of expression should not be at the expense of good manners.

luvmylatte

2 comments:

Charlie said...

aaaah so true Dana. we all are human and slip up occasionally ie we might be ain a bad mood or whatever but the impact is far greater and it has quicker impact - so another thing to remember is to perhaps sit on a post for a few hours or even over nite and see if you feel the same way later?

it works for me (but then im human too) xxx

Jennifer said...

Hi Dana, you're so right. The online manners of many (who should know better) leave a lot to be desired.

And let's not forget the dross that seems to go hand in hand with the bad netiquette. Many online conversations add no value at all. The web is chock full of garbage already and is practically a virtual land fill, or should that be word fill?! Maybe we need to instigate a verbal emissions trading scheme! VETS! You read it here first! xo