BookofthewebConcepts

What 10 concepts do you wish everyone on the internet understood?

[add your ideas, or edit ideas already here]

• Web pages are remixable and changeable. That's one of the things that makes the web different and more interesting than television.
• My information is on my laptop or my secure server vs. my information is on someone else's server.
  • Or something else basic that helps people understand when they are or are not in control of their own information.
• There are different degrees of privacy. I can (or should be able to) make choices about what information I share with whom.
• The internet is transparent. You can view source to see how it works (???).

• Email addresses and increasingly URLs are core to your identity online. It would be tremendously helpful if people understood the tradeoffs in using 3rd parties for this (e.g. gmail.com, wordpress.com, posterous.com, etc).

• if someone's offering a service for free, there's usually a reason -- sometimes it's because they're just being nice; sometimes they're making money (or hoping to) off of your use somehow. understanding that is a good idea.

• the internet isn't magical -- it's powered by machines made by people, and by people interacting on it.

• almost anyone can put almost anything on the web, even you. Ergo, don't believe everything your read. ("don't believe everything you think" is also wise, but irrelevant)

• if something's too amazing to believe, look into it -- it could be awesome, it could be a scam - it's not that hard to tell the difference if you try.

• on the internet nobody knows you're a dog, and its corrolary - on the internet, the person you're talking to may not be who they claim they are.