The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his131/etiquete.lzh/ETIQUETE.TXT

Text File | 1991-06-30 | 7KB | 117 lines

LIS:Computer Etiquette  by Mel North

   The following are a few points of general BBS etiquette. If you wish
to maintain your welcome on whatever system you happen to call, it
would be to your advantage to observe these few rules. (Sysops - feel
free to download this & display it on your BBS)

   1. Don't habitually hang up on a system. Every Sysop is aware that
accidental disconnections happen once in a while but we do tend to get
annoyed with people who hang up every single time they call because
they are either too lazy to terminate properly or they labor under the
mistaken assumption that the 10 seconds they save online is going to
significantly alter their phone bill. "Call Waiting" is not an
acceptable excuse for long. If you have it and intend to use the line
to call BBS systems, you should either have it disconnected or find
some other way to circumvent it.

   2. Don't do dumb things like leave yourself a message that says
"Just testing to see if this thing works". Where do you think all those
other messages came from if it didn't work? Also, don't leave whiney
messages that say "Please leave me a message". If ever there was a
person to ignore, it's the one who begs someone to leave him a message.
If you want to get messages, start by reading the ones that are already
online and getting involved in the conversations that exist.

   3. Don't use the local equivalent of a chat command unless you
really have some clear cut notion of what you want to say and why.
Almost any Sysop is more than happy to answer questions or offer help
concerning his system. Unfortunately, because about 85% of the people
who call want to chat and about 99% of those people have absolutely
nothing to say besides "How old are you?" or something equally
irrelevant, fewer Sysops even bother answering their pagers every day.

   4. When you are offered a place to leave comments when exiting a
system, don't try to use this area to ask the Sysop questions. It is
very rude to the other callers to expect the Sysop to carry on a half
visible conversation with someone. If you have a question or statement
to make and expect the Sysop to respond to it, it should always be made
in the section where all the other messages are kept. This allows the
Sysop to help many people with the same problem with the least amount
of effort on his part.

   5. Before you log on with your favorite pseudonym, make sure that
handles are allowed. Most Sysops don't want people using handles on the
system. There is not enough room for them, they get silly games of
one-upmanship started, it is much nicer to deal with a person on a
personal basis, and last but not least, everyone should be willing to
take full responsibility for his actions or comments instead of
slinging mud from behind a phony name.

   Also when signing on, why not sign on just like you would introduce
yourself in your own society? How many of you usually introduce
yourselves as Joe W Smutz the 3rd or 4th?

   6. Take the time to log on properly. There is no such place as RIV,
HB, ANA or any of a thousand other abbreviations people use instead of
their proper city. You may think that everyone knows what RIV is
supposed to mean, but every BBS has people calling from all around the
country and I assure you that someone from Podunk, Iowa has no idea
what you're talking about.

   7. Don't go out of your way to make rude observations like "Gee,
this system is slow". Every BBS is a tradeoff of features. You can
generally assume that if someone is running a particular brand of
software, that he is either happy with it or he'll decide to find
another system he likes better. It does nobody any good when you make
comments about something that you perceive to be a flaw when it is
running the way the Sysop wants it to. Constructive criticism is
somewhat more welcome. If you have an alternative method that seems to
make good sense then run it up the flagpole.

   8. When leaving messages, stop and ask yourself whether it is
necessary to make it private. Unless there is some particular reason
that everyone shouldn't know what you're saying, don't make it private.
We don't call them PUBLIC bulletin boards for nothing, folks. It's very
irritating to other callers when there are huge blank spots in the
messages that they can't read and it stifles interaction between
callers.

   9. If your favorite BBS has a time limit, observe it. If it doesn't,
set a limit for yourself and abide by it instead. Don't tie up a system
untitem as a new user and run right to the other numbers list. There is
probably very little that's more annoying to any Sysop than to have his
board completely passed over by you on your way to another board.

   11. Have the common courtesy to pay attention to what passes in
front of your face. When a BBS displays your name and asks "Is this
you?", don't say yes when you can see perfectly well that it is
misspelled. Also, don't start asking questions about simple operation
of a system until you have thoroughly read all of the instructions that
are available to you. I assure you that it isn't any fun to answer a
question for the thousandth time when the answer is prominently
displayed in the system bulletins or instructions. Use some common
sense when you ask your questions. The person who said "There's no such
thing as a stupid question" obviously never operated a BBS.

   12. Don't be personally abusive. It doesn't matter whether you like
a Sysop or think he's a jerk. The fact remains that he has a large
investment in making his computer available, usually out of the
goodness of his heart. If you don't like a Sysop or his system, just
remember that you can change the channel any time you want. Besides,
whether you are aware of it or not, if you make yourself enough of an
annoyance to any Sysop, he can take the time to trace you down and make
your life, or that of your parents, miserable.

   13. Keep firmly in mind that you are a guest on any BBS you happen
to call. Don't think of logging on as one of your basic human rights.
Every person that has ever put a computer system online for the use of
other people has spent a lot of time and money to do so. While he
doesn't expect nonstop pats on the back, it seems reasonable that he
should at least be able to expect fair treatment from his callers. This
includes following any of the rules for system use he has laid out
without grumping about it. Every Sysop has his own idea of how he wants
his system to be run. It is really none of your business why he wants
to run it the way he does. Your business is to either abide by what he
says, or call some other BBS where you feel that you can obey the rules.