

For example, in most TV discussion groups, passing on idle gossip is perfectly permissible. What’s perfectly acceptable in one area may be dreadfully rude in another.

Stand up for yourself, but try not to hurt people’s feelings. Imagine how you’d feel if you were in the other person’s shoes. The golden rule your parents and your kindergarten teacher taught you was pretty simple: Do unto others as you’d have others do unto you. But remember the Prime Directive of Netiquette: Those are real people out there. Yes, use your network connections to express yourself freely, explore strange new worlds, and boldly go where you’ve never gone before.

The message of Netiquette is that it’s not acceptable. But the interposition of the machine seems to make it acceptable. Most of them would never act that way at work or at home. Humans exchanging email often behave the way some people behind the wheel of a car do: They curse at other drivers, make obscene gestures, and generally behave like savages. But the impersonality of the medium changes that meeting to something less - well, less personal. Computer networks bring people together who’d otherwise never meet.
