Websites like Facebook, Orkut,YouTube, Myspace and Ustream bring out the worst in people. They bring out the bully in someone who has been or is bullied at school. They bring out the racist person from the person elected nicest in school. This is cyber bullying — the act of attacking someone in order to slander or disprove their credability online. What ever happened to the saying “why can’t we be friends”? Why do people feel the need to bully others online? This is something that has been going on for as long as the Internet has existed and it all comes down to netiquette. Social networks are no place for anyone who wants to remain mysterious and enigmatic. The sites are designed to leech as much information out of us as possible so that adverts can be targetted at us more effectively; if you mention that you’re single, you’ll be subjected to ads for dating sites, and if you reveal that you’re allergic to cats, you’ll probably be teased with antihistamine pop-ups. But how much information is too much? Some people won’t even reveal their name, preferring to call themselves Babylicious or Speedfreak; a disadvantage could be that Speedfreak’s friends might not be able to find him - although, of course, that might suit Speedfreak just fine.While on the Internet people are more likely to say what is on their mind because they are not face to face with the person. They are hidden; and they can chose to end the conversation whenever they wish. How is it possible to prevent being bullied online? Well, the article link given below gives a few netiquette tips that work in your favor: respect your friends’ ego, avoid e-misunderstandings, don’t over blog your personal life and don’t drink and surf. Two of my favorite suggestions are about peronal blogging and mixing alcohol with the Internet. People are interested about your life; to some extent. However, if they have been reading your blog for some time now; chances are that they are more of a fan of your opinion. Your personal life can easily offend them and bring out the bad comments. Mixing alcohol and the Internet can also be deadly. If you are too drunk and you will not remember what happened earlier in the night; chances are you need to go to bed. If you are intoxicated, you will not be thinking straight and will most likely contribute to those so called cyber bullying comments. The golden rule is that you shouldn’t do anything on the internet that you wouldn’t do in front of your parents.LINK:Facebook faux pas; The geek’s guide to netiquette