A-3 On-line etiquette | Microsoft Office Automation with Visual FoxPro

On-line etiquette

In closing, we present some comments on how to behave in forums and newsgroups. The key is to remember the word we used in the title of this appendix "community." Act as you would in your neighborhood and you ll get along just fine.

What does that mean? First, almost everyone who answers questions on-line is a volunteer who does it because he or she enjoys it. It s not his or her job, so don t go in with the expectation that someone "owes" you an answer. The person who answers your question is doing you a favor. Acknowledge that favor by your attitude.

In the same vein, the reason on-line communities work is that people take the time to answer other people s questions. If you can, return the favor and answer someone else s question.

Within a given forum or set of newsgroups, post your question only once. The regulars read all the sections of the forum or all the groups for their subject, so they ll see it. Posting the same question to many groups (called "cross-posting") is considered rude.

When you ve solved your problem, posting a brief "thanks, that did the trick" note is fine, though not strictly necessary. Don t post a "thank you" to everyone who answered you. A single "thanks to all who helped" is sufficient. If the problem was particularly hairy, do post a single message explaining how you finally solved it, so that others can learn from your experience.

Don t send e-mail to someone who answers your question unless he or she specifically asks you to do so. One of the advantages of public forums and newsgroups is that many people learn from the exchanges there. When you switch to private e-mail, others can t learn from your discussion. In addition, many of the people who answer questions are just plain too busy to answer questions in e-mail, as well.

Use your real name. Technical forums are no place for cute handles.

Most of the on-line communities have a set of rules. The rules of conduct for the Microsoft newsgroups, for example, are pretty basic you ll find them at support.microsoft.com/support/news/rules.asp. On the Universal Thread, the list is much more extensive the rules are accessed from a link on the home page. Wherever you go, you should be able to find the rules; if you can t find them, ask. Observing local customs is just as much of a good idea when you visit an on-line community as it is when you travel in the physical world.