Gnomie Dmitri McNally writes:

Hello Chris,

I have been an online chatter now for over 15 years. And it seems to me that no matter where I go to chat — be it IRC, ICQ, or AOL or even Yahoo! — one thing is always the norm. And that is lack of chat etiquette. I’m hoping some of your viewers can benefit from these simple tips and make everyone’s chat experience better. It’s important to remember that these are real people you are chatting with, and should be looked at as if you were chatting in real life with them.

1. Talking in caps. This is not only annoying, but perceived as yelling. Personally, I would much rather see people typing all in lower case with frequent typos and misspellings than see them type all in caps. You wouldn’t yell things in a normal conversation, would you? And if you would, I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t really enjoy conversing with you.

2. Asking people for personal information, AKA A/S/L. Would you go up to a complete stranger in public and ask their precise age and where they lived? Or what their current relationship status is? I don’t know about others, but I find this to be very rude.
3. Spamming. Some people have trouble understanding exactly what spam is. This is quite simple really. Forcing a message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it is spamming. When you are in public and someone shoves a flyer for a new store opening in your face it’s quite annoying. So why do it in the chat room?
4. Following the rules. This is one I have seen get debated quite frequently. Different channels have different rules on what is OK to talk about and what is not. The important thing to remember here is the rules are set for a specific reason. For the chat room at live.pirillo.com, these rules are set to make everyone’s chat experience more enjoyable. If you have an issue with one of the rules, keep in mind you are not the only person in the chat room. Try to look at it as if you were a guest in someone’s home. they may have rules that make no sense to you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t respect their wishes. You can always create your own room and say whatever you desire.
5. Wars. We have seen it numerous times: “Mac is better!” “XP rules!” “Xbox sucks!” On and on it goes. The thing that really annoys me about this is people who never say why this sucks or that rules. Follow through with your opinion. Share your experience with the community so others may learn from it. Plus, if you think something sucks because it’s not working correctly, you might find someone who has found a solution to your problem and can help you. Try to look at it like being in a store. You ask the salesperson “is this hard drive any good?” and all he or she says is “it sucks.” It would not be very helpful, would it? Also, please don’t escalate situations — agree to disagree. If you can’t stop fighting about something with someone else just move on. Understand you have your views and so do others. Respect others’ opinions and their right to keep them, no matter how strongly you feel they might be wrong.

Following these simple tips can make chatting a better experience for all of us.