Someone who is no longer with us had a go at me a couple of weeks ago about the necessity for "message board rules".
My view was - and remains - that adults don't need rules to govern their social behaviour, but here for your amusement are the rules for using the messageboards in The Republic of Pemberley, a US-based (where else, I hear you cry) website devoted to the life and literature of Jane Austen:
In a true Austenian style, we adhere to posting etiquette.
- Before bursting upon the scene and posting, spend some time getting to know us and what we talk about.
- If you like to be rude (or love a brawl), you may not like our company. If you don't like our ways, don't come here. We do tease and needle each other in a Lizzyesque fashion, but endeavor not to be so mean as Emma was on Box Hill, and strive never to let our differences get personal.
- If, as you have done your "getting-to-know-us" lurking, you discover that a regular poster shares your name, please affix a number to your first name, use a middle name, incorporate your geography as an identifier, something like that -- but stick to it! Only one name per customer.
- Use your own name. We know, we know. That's odd for the net, but we're not like the rest of the net in many respects. We find it helps to keep things friendly, civil and accountable when people can't hide behind aliases. Just be yourself -- we have never found it to be a problem here. There are a few exceptions made for charter or nearly-charter posters.
- It's polite to read all or at least the latest posts in a thread before posting to it. If you end up repeating the same view another participant voiced earlier, it tends to make that other participant think, "Didn't anybody listen to me?"
- Don't correct people's grammar or spelling, please. The threat of being corrected may impede discourse, and we want people to feel comfortable here.
- Typing in all capital letters means that you are shouting. So, unless you mean to shout, don't.
- Don't post links to your own commercial ventures, or collect our e-mail addresses for unsolicited mailings. We don't profit from the site, for heaven's sake, so why should you?
- We do not discuss the personal lives of actors, authors or other celebrities. You may say what you like about their work, but let's let them have whatever privacy they can get. Please don't make rude personal remarks about them, either.
- Let new people bring up what might seem to you like "done-to-death" topics (like, maybe, "What will Lizzy call Darcy?"), without shunting them bluntly back to the archives (unless the very same topic is currently on the board), and please don't display anything resembling annoyance that the topic has been raised yet again. Every topic has come up before! You had fun exploring whatever the subject is; let our newcomers have their pleasure, too.
- Some of our aging eyes have a rough time with all lowercase messages. There's no rush here, as in a chat room, so if you're inclined to make your messages a little easier to read, by starting off sentences with capital letters, the grannies would really appreciate it.
There is much in there that I strongly agree with ("use your own name", for example), and The Republic of Pemberley is very well worth a visit, by the way.
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