5 Basic Rules for Webmaster Etiquette

I’ve been on both sides of some interesting conversations – as a webmaster, and as someone dealing with a webmaster. So just for giggles, I’ve come up with five basic rules for webmaster etiquette.  Maybe it will help ward of some of those interesting (sarcasm font needed) conversations.

1.  It’s probably not helpful to insult the webmaster.

You might be the greatest web designer the world has ever seen, but you don’t have to treat others like dirt.  You might not even realize you’re doing it.  But sending a webmaster a message that says something like:

“Hey, I build websites.  If you like, I can make your current website really good.”

“I was wondering when you were going to be finished with your real website.”  (When there is no notice that the existing site is only temporary)

“I can make your website work right and look good.”

“I could throw together a much better site for you in a few hours if you like.”

“Your site doesn’t work very well.”  (with no examples or solutions whatsoever)

Chances are, the webmaster in question has put countless hours of work into his website, and you’ve essentially just told him that his site and his skills are complete crap.  The site might be complete crap, but do you really think you’re helping by immediately putting the poor dude on the defensive?

Webmasters work hard and some of them are quite proud of their work.  If you really like the site but think it needs help, and you just can’t live with yourself if you don’t say something, try complementing the designer on what you like, and be nice pointing out specific problems and solutions.  Then read what you just wrote and imagine if someone sent it to you.  Would you feel like crap?  Then you might want to rewrite it or toss it.  Otherwise, if you get a response at all, it might not be very positive.  And as far as I’m concerned, a webmaster has the right to be a tad put off if someone essentially calls him a worthless punk.  Even if the intention was good.

2.  Patience is a virtue when dealing with people who don’t have years of internet experience.

When you’ve spent years, maybe over a decade of your life, knee deep in web code, browser wars, standards changes and the like, you should consider yourself much more experienced than the average internet user.  So when you talk to non-webmasters, try treating them like human beings.  Just like webmasters don’t like to be insulted, neither do the clients and users.

Being annoyed that not everyone knows the ins and outs of everything technological is actually normal, if you know it.  It’s human nature for a lot of people to want others to magically know things; it just doesn’t work that way.  So try patience and understanding when trying to show someone how to work their new website, tool or the internet in general.  This is closely related to number three…

3.  Keep people who might not understand in mind when you design.

If you use mystery meat navigation, hidden links and enormously complicated designs, that’s fine if that’s what you want.  But don’t get mad when someone who didn’t design the site can’t find anything or gets frustrated or can’t load it on their connection.  Just because you know you put all of your links at the bottom of your site doesn’t mean your visitors will automatically know to go there.  If someone emails about not being able to find something, help him find it instead of treating him like you think he’s a moron.  Unless non-traffic and zero visitor loyalty is what you’re shooting for.

4.  Don’t expect everyone to download Firefox.

Internet Explorer’s many incarnations can be obnoxious as hell for a webmaster.  If you decide to design only for Firefox and Chrome, fine.  You can provide a link to download one of those, just don’t expect everyone to do it.  Expect complaints and lower traffic.  Posting a note that says that you think anyone who doesn’t download Firefox is a nimrod won’t help either.  If you’re going to push for a download, it’s better to be nice about it.

5.  Expect to be insulted.

Yes, number one says not to insult a webmaster.  The only reason that had to be a rule is because it happens all the time, usually from good-natured people who don’t realize they sound so nasty.  So expect some insults and brush them off.  They might even have useful information buried in the demeaning parts.  Everybody has different tastes and everyone likes to think they’re better at what they do than everybody else.  So expect insults and avoid getting into a flame war.  At the end of the day, it’s better to not hurt the feelings of five people who didn’t mean to hurt yours than it is to get a good jab in at the one who really was annoying.