Net.Nouse

This is a short course that teaches basic survival skills in cyberspace. You will learn how to spot hoaxes and scams, how to deal with SPAM, learn about internet ettiquette 'nettiquete' and how to effectively deal with volumes of email.

"The basic idea came from getting one too many hoax/chain letters" says Matthew Hall, founder of NetNouse, "from newbie friends who didn't know better. I figure if we teach 'em offline, we can stop the rot before it begins."

The Course is to take in areas such as :

• Hoaxes and Scams - How to spot them before they get you
• Chain Letters
• SPAM - What it is, why it's bad, how to deal with it
• Nettiquette - How should we behave online?
• Usenet guidelines
• The Art of Web searches
• What NOT to put in your personal web page.
• Privacy - What people can tell about you from your use of the internet
• Privacy - how to find out about people using the internet
• Good windows-based tools for internet use
• Good Macintosh tools for internet use
• How NOT to use your work email
• Office email protocol - when to send, when not to...
• Don't get fooled by ads that look like dialog boxen

NetNouse staff have an enormous amount of experience on the, Matthew Hall first began his online journey in 1989 on's internal version of the internet and Ian Woolf has extensive experience dating back many years. Together, we have the willingness and know-how to show you the ropes, hopefully avoiding some of the pitfalls we've been though ourselves.

Intro to the Hoaxes/Scam section

Internet scams like this are viruses. Not in the sense that there is a program to do nasty things, simply that they exist only to duplicate themselves as widely as possible. Think about that for a moment. If you send these on, you've helped the virus to breed.

Everyone gets caught the first time (I know I did way back in '89 or '90.) The crucial thing to do now is learn how to recognise these and not pass them on. And to teach others how to do the same. Quick thinkers are now saying "but that's as bad as the viruses" - well, you're right to a point. Fight fire with fire :-)

Here's a couple of good sites you should read, and make sure all newbies to the internet see them too. That way we stand a chance of stopping these things before they cripple the email pipes.

Links of interest

• Computer Virus Myths home page - This one is my old standby. Loads of great info and an A - Z of virus hoaxes.
• Internet us warnings, rumours and hoaxes - Just the facts M'am. No graphics, no colours, just the plain facts.
• Urban Legends and Folklore - Now a part of the About.com network - a large repository of great stories.

Nettiquette

Nettiquette is a set of guidelines for how to properly behave online. Not a set of rules, rather some simple commonsense guidelines that help us all to get along better.

Links of interest

• Mailing List Manners - An article from the TidBITS web site that gives some great ideas.