[ Intro Music ]
>> Most of us are familiar
with society's guidelines known as etiquette.
Online communication has its own rules
and guidelines for etiquette.
These are often referred to as netiquette.
Keep these rules in mind for any kind of online communication,
including email, discussion board posts,
and other online contact with your classmates or instructor.
First, avoid abbreviations that you might use when texting
or on Facebook, like talk to you later, laugh out loud,
or other abbreviations.
Not everyone knows what these mean and, even if they do,
avoiding them will help communicate more clearly what
you really mean.
Second, make use of the subject line.
Imagine walking into a library where none
of the books have titles on the covers.
You would have to open every book
until you found what you were looking for.
If you don't give your post a subject line, viewers will have
to open your post to see what you've said.
So always give readers a clue about what's inside.
Third, it's important to know that all caps is
like yelling at someone.
You probably wouldn't yell
at your classmates during an in-class discussion,
so please avoid doing it online.
Next, be careful with joking or sarcasm,
since these frequently rely on nonverbal facial cues or tone,
they often do not come across very well
in online communication.
>> That posting rate was totally sick [crickets].
>> It's easy for someone to misunderstand your meaning
or even become offended because they couldn't tell
that you were joking.
Finally, be frugal with exclamation points.
Overusing these gives a much greater sense of urgency
to your message than it likely deserves.
Plus, it can make you seem like you're yelling
or that you lack sincerity as a writer.
By keeping these simple guidelines in mind
and remembering why we hold discussions,
you can help make your online course a truly meaningful
experience for everyone involved.
Now go discuss something.