KATHMANDU, April 25: In this Internet-driven age, there are a lot of Internet rules that most of us aren’t aware of. A single wrong move and your private information can end up in the hands of Internet stalkers or hackers.
So, to inform users, there are certain rules or “netiquettes” to help users avoid unwanted embarrassment or bullying online.
Users online should also be aware of their virtual social identity and should behave in a way that respects other people’s online identities as well.
“I’m well aware of netiquettes, but the problems lies in the use,” says Ujjwal Raj Paudel, 23, a.k.a. Oozal Raaz on Facebook. “We tend to follow netiquette rules like loudness, spelling and capitalization when we’re dealing with people officially but when it comes to friends and any kind of informal communication, we tend to forget it,” he adds.
Since Internet has already turned into a community and most of our lives and communication takes place virtually, it’s in everyone’s interest when people behave properly on Internet like in the real world.
These rules include the use of capitalization, respecting other people’s opinions or the decency to end opinion flaming.
“We play different roles in society or in a country, and since we’re part of the digital world, we need to take care and play out our roles properly in the digital realm as well,” says Dipendra KC, 23, co-founder of YUWA, a youth-based organization.
“We need to behave online the way we do in real life. Since we have our digital identity and we need to be able to behave in ways that appraise that identity and not get involved in undesirable actions that hamper it,” he informs.
Since we all have virtual identities on Internet, we need to make it a point to follow these Internet rules so that it syncs with our real-world identities.
Staying anonymous is also increasingly difficult because of account syncing. Like respecting other people’s rights in the real world, netiquettes also help people retain their Internet rights and helps in ending Internet bullying.
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