You need to understand Netiquette, and Smileys. (Emoticons...convey a sense of what the writer means online. Online chatting is more like talking than writing...and the inflection of our voices make a huge difference in making sure we're not misunderstood. Emoticons do that. I've included information about them in Ms. Parry's Guide and in the book.) Click here to review the sections of the book that teach you what you need to know about cyberspace.

Everyone seems to "talk" in shortcut terms, and everything is an acronym ( three letter shorthand terms that geeks invented to confuse the rest of us).

Many of us are "typing-challenged" and URLs (universal resource locators) don't work when we type them wrong.

So...why bother? If it weren't because of all the wonderful people and sites online, it wouldn't be worth it. But, before you know it, you'll be the veteran and you can make fun of all the newbies who don't understand your smileys, netiquette or acronyms...