Commenting on the Web has long been a balancing act between helping out and showing off. Of course, as long as you're anonymous, who cares if you stray into know-it-all mode when bloviating on the legacy of Farscape? But now sites like Facebook force people to ID themselves. With friends, family, and coworkers in the mix, you want to make sure that your comments further the dialog and aren't just subtle—or not so subtle—attempts to make yourself look good.
"In ordinary conversation, there's always a subterranean effort to tell people about yourself, and sometimes it's more or less appropriate," says John Perry, a philosopher at Stanford. 
"Online conversations are similarly goal-oriented. And irrelevant disclosures come across as pretentious." In other words, people will notice—and dislike—sneaky self-aggrandizement. Trust me, I saw way too much of that at Harvard.
Related How To Behave: The New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans
Previous: Ask a Basterd: Can I Post My Wife's Butt on Twitter Without Asking? Next: Excuses for Calling In Sick
