What are some of the rules about the Internet that were taught to you but are now completely ignored?

Don’t pick up the phone if someone is online… I’m old

Dont believe anyone on the internet.

Don't feed the trolls.

Of course nowadays its nearly impossible to tell whos spouting racial slurs to get folks mad and whos doing it because they're just an asshole.

When you share something cool, link back to the original creator or where you found it from.

Social media killed online aliases and I have a hard time deciding if we're all worse for it.

Instinctively I still stick by that, though, as you can tell by my anonymous profile with no bio, but when I volunteer any amount of personal info these days people are often confused that I'm not sharing openly who I am or where I'm from. Every time someone does that it weirds me out because in the 90s telling (and asking) people those things would have been such a suspicious, sketchy move.

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.

"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 share your personal information online.

Yeah that's definitely not being followed anymore.

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

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

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…

Don't top post.

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

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.

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.

Never click an ad

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.

Internet is a proper noun and should always be capitalized.

Don't meet people from online.

Don't get into stranger's cars, and don't give out your real name or number or address on the internet.

Now you do most of these things when you call an uber. 😅

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 Feed the trolls

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

Don't be a dick.

Read -> Comprehend -> Post

Stay anonymous

Play Team Fortress on weekends. It's cheaper.

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

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.

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

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

The rules for abbreviations.

IIRC YMMV bc IANAL

Netspeak fluency has generally given way to textspeak.

There always have been the nick picks. But now sometimes there is barely any connection between the post and the comments. Like two people with multiple strokes distributed between them having an angry teams call.

1.0 ratio is the low bar, leech

Nothing that happens on the internet matters.

Stick with the gopher protocol, http is too poorly implemented.

Never disclose any real personal info.

the rule should be that you don't use your name until you're like 35 and understand how to use it properly

The first rule of usenet.

Boomers are still alive, so literally all of the rules ever as fast as possible.

Special standout for "dont believe everything you read" - "Well fuck you Ill believe everything without thought"