Asklemmy

When reading a long text, disconnect from the internet as soon as it has loaded so you don't pay for the time you spend reading.

I remember being taught in school to apply source criticism, and that seems to have largely died as a concept.

This was back in the early 2000s...

Don't share your personal information online.

Yeah that's definitely not being followed anymore.

I was taught to cite websites by using the date the page was updated. Now I'm lucky if web pages even have a date on them.

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." -Abraham Lincoln

Social media, a gorilla getting shot, two US elections, and GenAI later, we have completely fallen off this one simple rule.

Don't give your credit card details over the internet.

Nowadays people have them saved in their damn browser for convenience.

Don't top post.

You should use the Internet to get info out of it, not put your info there. If you do want to put info, it should never be traceable to you.

I just don’t get why people want so much of their life online…

Basic forum etiquette. It's horrifying at work seeing teams "teams" (forums) used like chats, all the cross-posting and thread necromancy, people completely unable to keep topics confined to the appropriate sub-forum, etc

On the Internet I grew up on, pretty much anything was ok except to discuss (or even speculate about) the real-world identities of users who didn't very openly disclose them.

Now many people think the latter is ok.

Never click an ad

Internet is a proper noun and should always be capitalized.

I learned as a kid playing star craft that there are noobs and newbs. Newbs are people new to a game who need help learning. And a noob is someone who has played for a while and refuses to learn and would rather troll.

Don't talk to strangers.

Searching things is easy so don't post something without checking it. People now don't make the slightest effort to verify a rumor or conspiracy crap.

The same people who warned us about the dangers of the internet and not to believe everything, are now the ones readily falling for and spreading conspiracies and lies from social media.

It's tragic.

I'm old enough to remember reading about netiquette.

As in real life, it's pretty sound advice to ignore, block or otherwise disengage from trolls and other forms of belligerents. Even in the '90s when I first started using the internet, the phrase of the day was "don't feed the trolls". But people just can't help themselves. They will even reply saying "I know you're a troll, but...".

The Steam forums are a great example, where every other thread is a fake "is this game woke??" screed. The fact that you can be rewarded for being a cunt there with jesters (which translate into points that can be spent to buy profile items) just makes it a thousand times worse. You get 'paid' to be a troll on Steam. It's insanity.

The only anti-troll weapon that works or is needed is oblivion. Let their steaming turd of a post curdle in solitude. Don't even downvote it. Being downvoted is a victory for them, an acknowledgement that they exist and that they've gotten your attention and that they've annoyed you. Shadowban them from your mind. Block them so that no future posts of theirs will infect your screen. Report them so mods can remove/ban them. Just don't engage directly with the post or the user. Don't say "blocked and reported" in the troll's thread/post. Just do it silently.

Don't meet people from online.

Never trust anything you read on the internet

Then: Don't download applications and run executables you don't fully trust.

Now: Download everyone's new snazzy app just because and scan everything with your phone that contains all your most private information so you can unlock a surprise!

Play Team Fortress on weekends. It's cheaper.

Read -> Comprehend -> Post

the Internet never forgets

this one goes both ways, if someone is doxing you, it'll be online FOUR FUCKING EVER, but if it was a cool website/funny meme/ good software, it's probably on somebody's downloads folder, but it can easily disappear and you'll never see it again.

A/S/L should be replied when you join a chat room

Bottom-posting eMails and Usenet posts.

Fuck you, Microsoft. Bottom-posting replies is the correct way to reply.

Make sure you use the right type of search engine for the type of information you want.

Most of them. Don't believe everything you see, don't give out personal information or real-life pictures... the usual.

only 1 hour a day! And if you accidentally click on a wrong link, the hackers can backtrace you or send the internet police.

Sticking around and "lurking" for a bit before you try to engage with a new community, to learn the local etiquette before you make an ass of yourself. Or at least reading the rules as a bare minimum.