Rules for Staying Classy Online Part II

6. Once you've sent it, you can't take it back.

    -All you have to do is post your first thought about a topic, and bingo! the world can now pick you apart! Great. We all seem to suffer from "foot in mouth" syndrome at one time or another, but now it is preserved for posterity's sake. Always think for a couple minutes before you hit the send or enter button. Ask yourself a couple of questions: "Do I need to dignify that with a response?" and "Is my response going to make the situation better?" and always consider, how much space are you giving them in your brain for them to dictate your actions? Are they worthy of that? Make your decisions accordingly. This does tie into number one. It's easier to say something vicious when you don't see who you're saying it to. Don't get caught up in the moment. You may regret it for more than one reason.

7. Nothing is every really "gone" from the internet.

    -Constantly we are told, "anything you say/post online can be seen by anyone." In the past, we could fall back on 1."Well, it's private." 2."My settings are fine." or 3."I know this person." Now, 1. Not so much, 2. No they aren't, and 3. You may not as well as you may think. And people are also starting to realize/remember that anything you put online, is never really "gone." You can hit delete, hide, or store, but it isn't going to make that much of a difference. There are too many escape hatches for our communications to slide into. Anything that you send at any point could potentially be dredged up again, by anyone; friend or foe. Be careful. Do you want your statements to come to light 15 years down the road? Will you be proud?

8. If you spam people with postings, no one will pay attention.

    -This means constantly cluttering up your wall so it keeps showing up in the newsfeed with links, articles, pictures, etc the are from your favorite cause (pro/ anti,)  one of several things will happen. One- At the least, people will start ignoring everything you post, and as such, your attempts to rally behind your cause will lose any effect they once had. "Oh that's just Edwin. He always posts junk. Ignore it." Two- "Oh Edwin, you are very annoyingly clogging my newsfeed. I am blocking your posts." Be careful on your soapbox; you may not be reaching the audience you intend or even anyone at all for that matter.

9. Not everything you read is personal.

    -This is where most of the mudslinging starts. Someone takes offense to something (whether or not they are the intended target of the statement is irrelevant) and jumps on the defensive, usually by calling the other person a stupid jerk, or any variation of that categorization; profanity optional. This immediately puts the other person in a place of trying to either defend their statement, or their integrity. (did I mention this is in a public forum?) Now we have supporters of each side joining in, and all sense of decorum is tossed out the window. If it were taking place in person, with the same amount of venom, we can safely say it would be a barroom brawl. Age doesn't seem to matter in these things. I have seen "adults" revert to name-calling (sneakily or not so sneakily), and quite often call each other "uninformed," "stupid," "biased (imagine that...)," and "closed-minded." Hello pot, it's me kettle. I want my color back. 

10. Curse words don't necessarily add anything to your writing style.

    -Every once and awhile, I run across a post that has nothing but vulgarities (or every other word is.) I won't pretend to sit on my throne above the mortals and say that I never swear, but it has to be a good reason (i.e. I just slammed my finger in the door, and the first word out of my mouth is S***!)  A lot of these words are not intrinsically bad. My personal opinion is that they are crass and not necessary. I have a problem when these words become fillers. The occasional curse word can add emphasis. If they become normal in use, they lose any sort of emphatic effectiveness, and make people not want to read or listen to you. You have just lost your audience, not to mention you sound like you don't value their time, or your own (considering that you took the time to write them out...)