Re: Open Message to Dental Practitioners who frequent SMD
From: Joel M. Eichen (joeleichen_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 11/29/04
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Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 06:47:49 -0500
INTERESTING PAGE:
All About Netiquette
Netiquette is exactly what the name implies, etiquette for the
Internet. One of the greatest benefits of the Internet is the
opportunity for people from many diverse backgrounds and beliefs to
come together and share information and knowledge. Unfortunately, this
is also one of the biggest problems of the Internet as well - with so
many people and so many different situations, the opportunities for
misunderstanding are multiplied. And because the Internet is world
wide and knows no country boundaries, no one can really enforce
policies. And to whom would we entrust such duties when so many of us
have different beliefs and needs? Please don't overlook this issue:
under the Communications Decency Act which was approved and then later
struck down as a violation of First Ammendment Rights, discussions of
bowel functions was illegal - not just on the internet, but also in
other communications media such as television, radio and even
telephones.
To avoid such complications in the future, Internet users themselves
must govern the way they interact. We assume that freedom of speech is
a basic right (though not, unfortunately, a universal right), but even
that basic freedom has limits. You will notice that I specifically
state in my copyright notice that all material copyrighted by others
is used for educational purposes only, which is a specific provision
within copyright law that allows for fair usage. Without such a
notice, my use of such materials violates copyright laws - and such a
violation is not justified by claiming freedom of speech. Nor is it
justified by saying that everyone does it! The point is that accepting
freedom of speech means accepting the responsibility to use it
appropriately and within the limits set. Similarly, by participating
in newsgroups or sending email across the Internet, we must accept the
responsibility to do so appropriately and within the limits set for
such usage.
So, exactly what are these limits?
Tolerance is not really a rule, but it's a good policy nonetheless.
The Internet is full of people from all over the world, so there's a
good chance that you will come into contact with someone or several
someones who have beliefs that differ from your own. Get over it.
Accept it. Respect that others have the right to their own beliefs and
opinions, whether you agree with them or not. If you cannot discuss
such topics civilly, then you should not discuss them at all. You
should also be willing to give people the benefit of the doubt: assume
that others also respect your rights and are not deliberately trying
to insult you. Okay, so you may be wrong in that assumption, but what
harm does it do you? On the other hand, assuming that people are
deliberately insulting you or your beliefs and responding with angry
messages only creates chaos and tends to bring more people into the
fray. If someone has insulted you to the point that you can no longer
tolerate their messages, then you can always ignore their messages.
Most software packages come with filtering features that allow you to
automatically block messages from specific people; this is known as
setting a kill-file or kill-filter.
"Just the FAQ's, ma'am" - many groups have FAQ files - files that list
"frequently asked questions" and provide answers. These files should
also explain the purpose of the newsgroup, what types of subjects and
posts are appropriate for that newsgroup and what type of subject and
posts are not appropriate for that newsgroup. The FAQ file should be
posted on the newsgroup on a regular basis and may be available on the
World Wide Web as well. You really should read the FAQ before you
start posting messages to a newsgroup. In our group, this information
is primarily found in the group Charter, while the FAQ files provide
information about Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD-FAQ) and the
Resources (IBD Resources FAQ) available.
Lurk: not everyone chooses to participate in discussions on a
newsgroup. Some people just read the messages and never reply. This is
called "lurking," and many people recommend that you "lurk" in a
newsgroup for a while before you start participating. This gives you a
chance to see how people in the group interact and learn what kind of
things are acceptable and what is not acceptable. It may also give you
an idea about whether you really want to participate in a particular
group at all. Our newsgroup is something of an exception to this rule
- we have a tendency to welcome new members (also known as "newbies")
at all times, regardless of their amount of experience with
newsgroups. Other groups are a lot less tolerant and expect new
members to know what they're doing before they jump in and start
posting messages.
Stay On-Topic: if you've read the FAQ, you should have a good idea of
what topics are appropriate to discuss on a particular newsgroup. Make
sure your messages are appropriate.
Don't Shout: WRITING MESSAGES USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS CONSIDERED
THE WRITTEN EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING. Hey, it makes your message
difficult to read, and the whole idea of posting a message is so that
it will be read, so shouting kind of defeats the purpose.
Don't Over-Quote: when you reply to a message, it is appropriate to
quote part of the original message to make it clear what you are
replying to. But, quoting more than 20 lines just to add a "me too!"
or "ditto" is a big waste of space and rather annoying. And if
everyone keeps quoting whole messages and adding their own replies,
each reply gets larger and larger and ends up repeating the same
message over and over. It makes reading messages more difficult and
takes more time to download the messages. Quoting is useful, but don't
over do it! You should also be aware that it is not proper to quote
from email when you post a message unless you have explicit
permission. Email is considered private communication while newsgroups
are public.
Don't Spam: this usage of "spam" basically means an unwanted message,
not the luncheon meat made by Hormel. The most common form of spam is
unsolicited advertising. Hey, no one really likes commercials, so be
careful about posting messages that contain ads. In our group, we do
allow people to put in ads for their own web sites, especially if the
web site relates to IBD. Other ads are allowed if, and only if, you
clearly state that it is an "AD" in the subject line of the message. A
message containing information to sell a product is considered an ad
whether the person who posts the message actually makes any profit
from the sale or not. Other forms of spam include "Make Money Fast,"
"Work at Home," perpetuation of any of a variety of hoaxes including
hoax virus warnings, and chain letters. While the "You're a good
friend" and "you have been hugged" type of message isn't necessarily
considered spam, it's really not appropriate to post such messages on
newsgroups.
Cures and Ads for Cures: If you saw an ad about how to make a million
bucks by licking envelopes in your own home, you'd be skeptical - and
you should be. Right now there is no known cure for inflammatory bowel
disease, but that doesn't seem to stop people from advertising that
they have one. Newsgroups are a great place to get information, but
not all the information you might find on newsgroups is accurate. Use
some common sense - if a promise is too good to be true, then it
probably isn't true. That doesn't mean that you can't find products
that will help you, but you should be very cautious. Ever so often,
someone will mention something or ask a question about Archway Coconut
Macaroons and whether they really will "cure" ulcerative colitis. If
you research the question, you'll find that newspapers actually
printed articles about this little miracle. Unfortunately, they didn't
do the proper research. While it is true that some of the oils can
help some people with diarrhea, the coconut fibre isn't digestible.
That's good if you don't get enough fibre in your diet, but it can
also cause severe diarrhea or bowel obstructions which are not only
extremely painful, but can be fatal. And then there was the man
claiming to be a Greek doctor who cured his patients of ulcerative
colitis by turning them upside down and giving them olive oil enemas.
You should always consult with your physician before trying something
like this.
Hoaxes: Hoaxes tend to come to you by email, but sometimes people are
so taken with them they will post the information on a newsgroup. Good
intentions are great, and I like a good joke as well as the next
person, but hoaxes are not funny. At the least, they are annoying; at
their worst, they are destructive.
One of the oldest hoaxes is based on the true story of a terminally
ill little boy who wanted to get into the Guinness Book of Records
before he died, so there was something of a world-wide plea to send
him postcards. Well, not only did he break the record, the story also
caught the attention of philanthropist John Kluge, who arranged for
the young man to be brought to the US where a new form of treatment
was able to cure him. He's already in the record book, he's well and
healthy and a young adult now, and he doesn't want any more post cards
or email! A more recent variety of hoax says that Microsoft will pay
you so much money for everyone you send this email message to! Yeah,
right! A variation on this theme says that a large corporation will
donate money to the 9-11 fund for every email you send out. Currently,
false virus messages are the most common form of hoax. These messages
usually say not to even look at a message with such and such a subject
line as it will do horrible things to your computer - oh, and send
this information to everyone you know! The more horrible ones will
tell you to go looking for a certain file that they claim is a virus
and tell you to delete it if you find it - the problem is, they just
asked you to delete a file that your computer needs to run properly!
Please, don't perpetuate these hoaxes by blindly sending them to
everyone you know or posting them on newsgroups. Be skeptical when you
see messages like these. Anything legitimate should tell you how you
can verify the information they sent. Further, most companies that
produce virus software also have web sites for providing information
about viruses and virus hoaxes. If you are concerned about a warning
you get, check it out at these web sites before you do anything! My
personal favorite is at Symantec Corporation, makers of Norton
Anti-Virus (http://securityresponse.symantec.com, with hoax
information at
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html).
Chain Letters: just say no. Please, just say no!
Don't Cross-Post: cross-posting means posting the same message to
several different newsgroups. In some cases, this may be appropriate.
For example, because arthritis is commonly associated with IBD, you
might have a question that you could post in our group and another
group that deals with arthritis support. However, you should not post
the same message to three groups or more. These rules are slightly
different for binary groups. If you are posting a mp3 file of a
Beatles song, then it is okay to cross-post that file to how-many-ever
groups that would find it appropriate. If you reply to a message that
is cross-posted in several groups, your software will likely tell you
that it is a cross-post and ask you whether you wish to reply to the
message in all the groups in which it was posted; you should choose to
reply to the message ONLY in the group in which you read the post.
Believe me, nothing starts a war between different newsgroups faster
than replying to cross-posted messages!
Don't Feed the Trolls: as I have previously stated, some people will
post wild and inflammatory messages just to get people riled up. As
someone once said, "Sad, isn't it?" We call these people "trolls," and
they get their kicks by getting people to argue. The best thing to do
(though nobody seems to do it) is to ignore these messages. If the
person doesn't get a rise, he or she will likely just go away.
On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 18:44:16 GMT, W_B <no_one@nowhere.net> wrote:
>
>Greetings fellow practitioners and students,
>of the dental arts and sciences,
>
>The constant barrage from those who attack us is not worthy
>of our time and trouble.
>
>This forum should be aimed toward the patient who has a question.
>If one of the anti-dentites responds to a legitimate patient question
>then it may be appropriate to respond to the anti-dentite.
>The pre-emptive strike in this group doesn't work in this situation,
>it only drives off those who may have a real world question.
>
>The bickering that the anti-dentites cause is their objective.
>Every time one of the regs from SMD responds is one more
>increase in the signal/noise ratio as A. so eloquently pointed
>out to SMD recently.
>
>The secondary objective of SMD should be for fellow practitioners and
>students, of the dental arts and sciences;
>to share knowledge and experience.
>So that we all may endeavor to persevere in our quest to become
>better at our chosen profession and help to relieve the suffering of
>our fellow man.
>
>Reflections during TG,
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