Yeah, so I’m a little late catching up some of my feeds, but while I don’t often find myself compliantly agreeing with David Pogue, his Whatever Happened to Online Etiquette? post is quite telling. The topic is one near and dear to me: although I may report to superiors at AOL, I most fear the scrutiny of my readers, who can be far harsher critics than even the toughest boss. Which is actually a wonderful thing professionally speaking, since being directly beheld to one’s customer pushes them to achieve — except the anonymity of the internet and Engadget’s size in readership has over the years developed a steady cesspool of abusive personalities. Thankfully they are now and always have been just the vocal minority, and 99% of our readers are really awesome people. But still, I have to wonder if and when things will turn around and whether a lot of these kids growing up online will start communicating on the internet like they would socializing with real people. (Anyone remember what that’s like?) The new golden rule is simple: email, comments, whatever it may be, just don’t ever say anything to anyone — anonymous or anonymously or not — you wouldn’t say with them in the room.