The Internet is a man-made wonder and has myriad uses in several fields of industry, education, research, etc. pertaining to our work and day-to-day lives. It’s a vast open space in virtual reality that is open to the general public of the world – accessible to any and everyone who knows how to use it. While it is certainly a marvelous discovery and  a wonderful creation, it is, more often than not, misused and thoroughly abused by people who have a ‘sick’ sense of humor or by those individuals who have ulterior motives and a hidden agenda. The latter group of people use the Net to promote false rumors and false propaganda for what can only be rightly termed as “cheap thrills” and/or to continue the indiscriminate spread of all manner of vices such as cyber bullying; cyber crime and crime in the real world; pedophilia; pornography; lust; greed;  human trafficking, for the sale of  addictive and dangerous drugs for financial gains, for extortion purposes, etc.

 

 

Unfortunately, this sort of harmful behavior feeds a lot of latent fantasies and secret, unfulfilled desires of a new breed of perverts and freaks, sadists, rapists, murderers, arsonists, etc. and such damaging acts should strictly be avoided at all costs. We can’t stop people from sharing things on social media and social networking sites BUT we CAN stop ourselves from indulging in such sinful behavior, invariably carried out in hiding because inwardly, that person knows it’s shameful and immoral. Some people also get a secret, freakish thrill from such perverted behavior. Can it get any worse?

 

 

With a little discipline and by the creation of a strong, inner voice called the Conscience, such behavior can be avoided. Our conscience is the inner voice of our soul that tells us what’s right and what’s wrong. In the end, it depends entirely on YOU. It is you who will finally decide what’s right and what’s factually and morally wrong. The world would become a much better and a much safer place to live in if everyone thought and behaved in the morally correct manner. In this particular context, that is what we call Netiquette- Correct Behavior on The Internet.

 

Nowadays, so many people enjoy reading WhatsApp forwards, jokes, notifications, etc. BUT BEWARE!! Not all messages that you receive, in such a manner, have an honest, INITIAL sender. You may be highly well-intentioned and might forward the said message to many others, in this way and perfectly innocently too, without knowing that the content of the post is all wrong. You undoubtedly presume that you are forewarning other people to be careful, etc. and you might think it’s a helpful, good deed that you did. Unfortunately, a lot of false information is spread unknowingly by innocent, trusting people in this way.  You can well imagine, I’m sure, how many millions of such false messages must be circulating virtually around the globe, taking a lot of gullible people in its sway. Be well aware of this and be cautious- that is all I can truly say.

 

 

Don’t share anything BLINDLY without checking its authenticity first. If you see such a thing happening to a good person who you know to be your friend, don’t shame and humiliate them on a public forum and platform where everyone can read your comments. Your conscience might feel its the right thing to do but it’s NOT the decent thing.

 

 

Sometimes, the Heart is a much better judge than the Mind.

 

 

In such a case, take the time to INBOX the person PRIVATELY. That person/friend will definitely appreciate it, even if you don’t receive a message of sincere thanks in return. They will automatically be more cautious in the future. They will also realize the extent of their foolishness and will make special efforts to see that such a thing does not recur.

 

 

This is NETIQUETTE. It’s happened to me and it created an undue controversy, unnecessary embarrassment where I felt forced and duty-bound to apologize publicly to the people with whom I unknowingly shared the “offending” post. I’ve certainly learned from my mistake, that’s for sure!

 

 

It’s happened to me. Please DON’T let it happen to YOU. It’s the unfortunate reward or rather, a hurtful punishment that you get for being too kind, too caring, too trusting  and a little foolish in a vastly fake, wicked and pseudo world.

 

Learn from my lesson. I had to learn it the hard way.