Rule 4:
Respect other people's time and bandwidth
It's a cliché that people today seem to have less time than ever
before, even though (or perhaps because) we sleep less and have more labor-saving
devices than our grandparents did. When you send email or post to a discussion
group, you're taking up other people's time (or hoping to). It's your responsibility
to ensure that the time they spend reading your posting isn't wasted.
The word "bandwidth" is sometimes used synonymously with time,
but it's really a different thing. Bandwidth is the information-carrying
capacity of the wires and channels that connect everyone in cyberspace.
There's a limit to the amount of data that any piece of wiring can carry
at any given moment -- even a state-of-the-art fiber-optic cable. The word
"bandwidth" is also sometimes used to refer to the storage capacity
of a host system. When you accidentally post the same note to the same
newsgroup five times, you are wasting both time (of the people who check
all five copies of the posting) and bandwidth (by sending repetitive information
over the wires and requiring it to be stored somewhere).
You are not the center of cyberspace
Presumably, this reminder will be superfluous to most readers. But I
include it anyway, because when you're working hard on a project and deeply
involved in it, it's easy to forget that other people have concerns other
than yours. So don't expect instant responses to all your questions, and
don't assume that all readers will agree with -- or care about -- your
passionate arguments.
Rules for discussion groups
Rule 4 has a number of implications for discussion group users. Most
discussion group readers are already spending too much time sitting at
the computer; their significant others, families, and roommates are drumming
their fingers, wondering when to serve dinner, while those network maniacs
are catching up on the latest way to housebreak a puppy or cook zucchini.
And many news-reading programs are slow, so just opening a posted note
or article can take a while. Then the reader has to wade through all the
header information to get to the meat of the message. No one is pleased
when it turns out not to be worth the trouble. See "Netiquette for
Discussion Groups" on page 65 for detailed rules.
To whom should messages be directed? (Or why "mailing list"
could become a dirty word)
In the old days, people made copies with carbon paper. You could only
make about five legible copies. So you thought good and hard about who
you wanted to send those five copies to.
Today, it's as easy to copy practically anyone on your mail as it is
not to. And we sometimes find ourselves copying people almost out of habit.
In general, this is rude. People have less time than ever today, precisely
because they have so much information to absorb. Before you copy people
on your messages, ask yourself whether they really need to know. If the
answer is no, don't waste their time. If the answer is maybe, think twice
before you hit the send key.
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