The following post will not win me any new friends.

Rereading my last post, I noticed that there was a reason for this madness that I had overlooked completely. When I had my first homepage in 1994, the internet was a very different place than it was today, 9 years later. Back then, the internet was mainly used by people in academia and people highly involved in computers. It took a certain level of sophistication to be able to use the internet back then. And hence, there was a lot of courtesy displayed for others.

Nowadays, anybody can get on the internet -- from setting up a home computer (XP makes it all very very easy -- does anyone here remember the tangled mess that was trying to get their internet installed on Windows 3.1?), to walking into a library or internet cafe -- basically one doesn't REQUIRE a level of sophistication or education to get on the net. It's easy. In some respects, this is a good thing. The internet is for everybody, and everyone should have access to it.

The real problem is that no rules are established for its use. Back in 1994, common courtesy was all that was necessary. Nowadays, more than that is required. People don't know how to react to computers and how to properly use them. Add to this the ability to use it anonymously, and some people don't particularly feel any responsibility when using a computer.

Some of the problems lie with the vendors of the technology. A visit to AIM's website does not have a page on rules of common courtesy when using their product. Not even a warning that harassment using their product is not a good thing. At least I know now why most of my problems stem from my AIM address.

People should be forced to read something about manners when they download a particular product. The producers of these products tend not to educate their users. This is really a fault of the producers. They are so hung up on not saying anything negative about their product that they often fail to educate the consumers.

If cigarettes can have a warning, why not internet messengers? Like "Messaging Strangers With Nothing To Say Will Seriously Piss Them Off." "Just Because Someone Puts Their IM Address On Their Page Doesn't Mean You Have To Message Them" or "People Aren't Online For The Sole Purpose Of Entertaining You."

I also found a few good pages talking about etiquette using IMs:

www.orchy.com

An article from the Los Angeles Times: www.larrysworld.com

This article talks about IM manners in a business setting, but I think a lot of what it says is applicable in non-business settings as well: www.smallbusinesscomputing.com

Anyways, I've already received a few positive replies for my last post. Thank you very much for those, and I'm interested in hearing any other comments people might have.

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