If you really want to annoy your friends, you can send emails to lots of different people using carbon copy feature. This is a common sin among newbies who don't know any better. What's problem? Well, including a list of email addresses exposes all of those addresses to everyone receiving message (and anyone it's been forwarded to). This often results in quite a bit of spam, as well as lots of useless messages being sent back and forth if anyone replies to message.

Then you find people who seem to think that banners and popups are good ideas. Don't you just hate surfing to a site which consists of dozens of mindless banners and two or more popups? And worse yet, it's not like they are advertising something useful. Most often, these silly advertisements want you to purchase something that you don't need, don't want and wouldn't give to your worst enemy on a bad day.

Oftentimes, all of these sins are result of misunderstandings as to purpose and usefulness of internet. I mean, you would probably not be likely to purchase furniture from a banner stapled to a telephone pole, so why would you buy one from a banner on a web site or based upon a spam email? Most people would not run power cables to their neighbors house to get their electricity, so why would they steal bandwidth?

How do you avoid all of these sins? By learning about internet; By understanding how to use it effectively to help meet your goals; and by acting ethically and responsibly. What does that mean? Think before doing, and don't do anything you would not like others to do to you.

It's as simple as that.

Some other articles on internet sins that you may find of interest are listed below.

Sins of internet- Bandwidth Stealing http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_bandwidth.htm

Sins of internet- Banners http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_banners.htm

Sins of internet- CopyrightInfringement http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_copyright.htm

Sins of internet- Not Using Bcc http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_notusingbcc.htm

Sins of internet- Money Making Programs http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_moneymaking.htm

Sins of internet- Pop Ups http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_popups.htm

Sins of internet- Signup Junkie http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_signupjunkie.htm

Sins of internet- Spamming Search Engines http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_searchspam.htm

Sins of internet- Webring Spammer http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/sins_webringspam.htm

To see a list of article available for reprint, you can send an email to: mailto:article-list@internet-tips.net?subject=send_article_list or visit http://internet-tips.net/requestarticles.htm

Probably most important rule is to stay on topic. If newsgroup is about Buffy Vampire Slayer, don't post about World Wrestling Federation, unless, of course, you are trying to set up a match between Buffy and Austin (grin).

Don't post in HTML format. This annoys just about everyone. And please don't create HTML signatures either. Oh yes, and if you post binary files, please, please, please run your virus checking program before you post. Nothing will annoy people faster than someone who posts (accidentally or otherwise) viruses to a newsgroup.

When you post a follow up message, you should quote enough of original message to orient your readers. You generally do not need to include entire original message - it's perfectly okay to delete large parts of it.

Some people prefer putting your follow up remarks at bottom of message. I prefer putting them at top - it's really up to you. Don't flame. I know it's incredibly tempting to call that guy a moron and a few other choice words, but please refrain. You will only start some useless posts which benefit no one.

And, again, don't spam. Believe me, everyone who frequents newsgroups has seen more pornographic spam then they want, and your pay-to-surf program, while exciting to you, is definitely old, unwelcome news. Remember, people who spam to wrong places tend to get their internet accounts canceled, their pay-to-surf dollars confiscated and their web pages deleted.