Netiquette Part 1

Hey dudes and girls,

YES! It's one more day to the weekend! Yipppie! I can't wait for the weekend to be here. I have to celebrate two of my good friends' birthdays (Fae and Shus) this Saturday. Hmmmmm. My friend, Denise, have not decided the venue for the birthday gathering. Dee! Hurry up with the details! Hahahaha... Speaking of birthdays, I have not bought anything for the birthdays people. I will ask Ridz and the gang what will they be getting.

Anyway, one of my friends (I will not mention the name) was recently being bad-mouthed in someone's blog. Apparently, my friend (let's call her K) don't really know the person (let's call him H). H used to have crushes on K but K was not interested in H. Apparently, H was a bit hurt and in order to get "back' to K, H called K names in H's blog. WOW! I mean I thought that was really CHILDISH! When I heard the story, I did not know whether I should cry or laugh. Bear in mind that H and K are already in their twenties.

I felt I should tell H this: "Hello Uncle! So old already still want to be like a small kid! Grow up la!" LOL!

My poor friend, K, was so affected by the post. K lost sleep and she told me that she was afraid people might laugh at her when they see her on the streets. I pitied her but I was also helpless because I could not do anything except to tell H to delete the post. In the end, H felt bad about it and he put down the post.

So what's the point of the story?

I am (and still) quite shocked about the netiquette of netizens. I realised that a lot of people still do not knwo about the existence of netiquette.

What is netiquette?
It's basically etiquette when surfing the internet.

What is etiquette then?
Your conduct (behavior) in general.

How about netizens?
People who use the internet. Eg: YOU and I

So what's the use of observing netiquette?
Oh believe me. There are a lot, a lot of uses and reasons for doing so.

One main use is to avoid from getting into trouble with the law.

1) Every country is subjected to its unique law. In Singapore, we are allowed freedom of speech BUT we CANNOT post up anything that can damage (undermine, compromise, jeopardise) our current situation.

It means NO racist remarks (you know what I mean). Even jokes are not allowed, NO false accusations about the government (believe me, you would not even want to mess with them), and NO remarks on other countries (be it China or US. absolutely NO!)

For those who are interested to read the actual Constitution with regards to the freedom of speech, go to this website http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_retrieve.pl?&actno=Reved-CONST&date=latest&method=part

* Advanced command of English is required. Be warned!

2) Even if you don't break the first rule, there's still the 2nd rule which is about SLANDERING. Slandering is about people who say untruths about someone. Untruths can be rumours or gossips. These UNTRUTHS have to be affecting the targetted person. The victim has (in his/her right) to SUE the person spreading negativities about him/her.

I believe you have read the newspapers on how some lawsuits have involved thousands or even millions of dollars. So your careless and haughty remarks can be very expensive. Haha!


I will touch on other reasons why we need to observe netiquette on another day.

mrRie