'Third Rule of Net Etiquette: Know where you are in cyberspace.' (see: tsum's two posts to this thread)

And

"Why reinvent the wheel" (also in tsuwm's first post to this thread)

Indeed. I think these rules are pretty comprehensive. The only thing I might want to look at is something more specific for rule 3. That is, a note about where exactly we are. -- Cyberspace, belM, is "virtual reality." Where we are, apart from in your basement, is AWAD Talk -- Like anywhere else, this place has its peculiar mores. They probably do not need to be codified. More I think about it, more I find tsum's periodic reminders of the purpose of the board exactly on target. It is a place to talk, teach and learn about words, to play with words. And when focused thereon, it tends to be a pretty congenial place to spend time. It might suffice to suggest that our administrator simply refer participants who may be straying a little wide to the rules of etiquette, especially to no. 3 in some AWAD-appropriate formulation. She might also refer those new comers to the same rules who may be having difficulty mixing. Lifers here might simply inform her in a PM of any such new comer-related difficulties they may be having, and the whole thing can be kept friendlier. As to inter-lifer strife, I would recommend the same, with the added suggestion that the lifer in question take a breath before continuing -- that cooler heads might prevail.

And the bandwidth business is something people might be reminded of from time to time.

Why not just refer newcomers to the advice for newcomers threads? Speaking as a former newcomer myself, this appears daunting. If they were referred there at the end of a message, the body of which were the simple rules of etiquette with the specialized rule no. 3, they would get at least that far.

IP,
Recovering Newcomer