expect will become the prevailing attitude among computer users. And that's exactly as it should be.

Special thanks to my many online acquaintances. Many of their posted writings -- in particular, articles by Jorn Barger, Kay Klier, and Graham Wolff Christian -- provided valuable insights. I'd especially like to acknowledge the members of the USENET newsgroup rec.pets.cats, my first lurking ground, and America Online's Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 message boards. I learned about Netiquette first-hand -- by making my own mistakes -- in these discussion groups.

Thanks to the experts who reviewed the book: M Carling, Daniel Kehoe, David Scalise, and Patrick McEvoy. Their comments beefed up the final product considerably. Thanks also to proofreaders Mae Kaven and Nancy Tune, who saved me many embarrassments. The standard disclaimer holds true here: Any remaining errors are mine alone.

Netiquette was inspired and informed by the work of many other authors. In particular, the general etiquette guidebooks and columns of Judith Martin, better known as Miss Manners, set a standard for etiquette writers that I can only hope to approach. Gene Spafford's excellent online guides to USENET netiquette were a major source for factual information. Guy Kawasaki's The Macintosh Way was the first book to show me that a computer book could be funny. Extra special thanks, too, to Guy for writing the foreword to Netiquette!

Finally, my deepest thanks and best love go to my husband, Andrew Mendelsohn. He was my best reviewer, collaborator, and supporter throughout the process of writing this book. I might possibly have started on my own, but I would not have finished Netiquette without Andrew.