107 lines
6.4 KiB
Prolog
107 lines
6.4 KiB
Prolog
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Computer Etiquette, By Mel North
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________________________________
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The following are a few points of general BBS etiquette. If you wish to
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maintain your welcome on whatever system you happen to call, it would be to your
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advantage to observe these few rules.
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1. Don't habitually hang up on a system. Every Sysop is aware that
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accidental disconnections happen once in a while but we do tend to get annoyed
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with people who hang up every single time they call because they are either too
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lazy to terminate properly or they labor under the mistaken assumption that the
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10 seconds they save online is going to significantly alter their phone bill.
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"Call Waiting" is not an acceptable excuse for long. If you have it and intend
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to use the line to call BBS systems, you should either have it disconnected or
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find some other way to circumvent it.
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2. Don't do dumb things like leave yourself a message that says "Just testing
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to see if this thing works". Where do you think all those other messages came
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from if it didn't work? Also, don't leave whiney messages that say "Please
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leave me a message". If ever there was a person to ignore, it's the one who
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begs someone to leave him a message. If you want to get messages, start by
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reading the ones that are already online and getting involved in the
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conversations that exist.
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3. Don't use the local equivalent of a chat command unless you really have
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some clear cut notion of what you want to say and why. Almost any Sysop is more
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than happy to answer questions or offer help concerning his system.
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Unfortunately, because about 85% of the people who call want to chat and about
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99% of those people have absolutely nothing to say besides "How old are you?" or
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something equally irrelevent, fewer Sysops even bother answering their pagers
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every day.
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4. When you are offered a place to leave comments when exiting a system,
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don't try to use this area to ask the Sysop questions. It is very rude to the
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other callers to expect the Sysop to carry on a half visible conversation with
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someone. If you have a question or statement to make and expect the Sysop to
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respond to it, it should always be made in the section where all the other
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messages are kept. This allows the Sysop to help many people with the same
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problem with the least amount of effort on his part.
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5. Before you log on with your favorite psuedonym, make sure that handles are
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allowed. Most Sysops don't want people using handles on the system. There is
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not enough room for them, they get silly games of one-upmanship started, it is
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much nicer to deal with a person on a personal basis, and last but not least,
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everyone should be willing to take full responsibility for his actions or
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comments instead of slinging mud from behind a phoney name.
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Also when signing on, why not sign on just like you would introduce yourself
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in your own society? How many of you usually introduce yourselves as Joe W
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Smutz the 3rd or 4th?
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6. Take the time to log on properly. There is no such place as RIV, HB, ANA
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or any of a thousand other abbreviations people use instead of their proper
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city. You may think that everyone knows what RIV is supposed to mean, but every
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BBS has people calling from all around the country and I assure you that someone
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from Podunk, Iowa has no idea what you're talking about.
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7. Don't go out of your way to make rude observations like "Gee, this system
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is slow". Every BBS is a tradeoff of features. You can generally assume that
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if someone is running a particular brand of software, that he is either happy
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with it or he'll decide to find another system he likes better. It does nobody
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any good when you make comments about something that you perceive to be a flaw
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when it is running the way the Sysop wants it to. Constructive criticism is
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somewhat more welcome. If you have an alternative method that seems to make
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good sense then run it up the flagpole.
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8. When leaving messages, stop and ask yourself whether it is necessary to
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make it private. Unless there is some particular reason that everyone shouldn't
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know what you're saying, don't make it private. We don't call them PUBLIC
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bulletin boards for nothing, folks. It's very irritating to other callers when
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there are huge blank spots in the messages that they can't read and it stifles
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interaction between callers.
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9. If your favorite BBS has a time limit, observe it. If it doesn't, set a
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limit for yourself and abide by it instead. Don't tie up a system
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unnecessarily.
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10. Have the common courtesy to pay attention to what passes in front of your
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face. When a BBS displays your name and asks "Is this you?", don't say yes when
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you can see perfectly well that it is mispelled. Also, don't start asking
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questions about simple operation of a system until you have thouroghly read all
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of the instructions that are available to you. I assure you that it isn't any
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fun to answer a question for the thousandth time when the answer is prominently
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displayed in the system bulletins or instructions. Use some common sense when
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you ask your questions. The person who said "There's no such thing as a stupid
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question" obviously never operated a BBS.
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11. Don't be personally abusive. It doesn't matter whether you like a Sysop
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or think he's a jerk. The fact remains that he has a large investment in making
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his computer available, usually out of the goodness of his heart. If you don't
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like a Sysop or his system, just remember that you can change the channel any
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time you want. Besides, whether you are aware of it or not, if you make
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yourself enough of an annoyance to any Sysop, he can take the time to trace you
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down and make your life, or that of your parents, miserable.
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12. Keep firmly in mind that you are a guest on any BBS you happen to call.
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Don't think of logging on as one of your basic human rights. Every person that
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has ever put a computer system online for the use of other people has spent a
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lot of time and money to do so. While he doesn't expect nonstop pats on the
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back, it seems reasonable that he should at least be able to expect fair
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treatment from his callers. This includes following any of the rules for system
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use he has laid out without grumping about it. Every Sysop has his own idea of
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how he wants his system to be run. It is really none of your business why he
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wants to run it the way he does. Your business is to either abide by what he
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says, or call some other BBS where you feel that you can obey the rules.
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