technological etiquette

this has puzzled me for a while. and i browsed through amy vanderbilt's bible. no answer. i don't think amy is up to date with modern computin technology.

what i'm wondering is . . . when do you quit? when do you quit e-mailing on a given topic. when do you quit texting? i'm not a big texting fan, but do it on occasion, and i don't know when to stop. and when do you quit facebook posting? i'm really perplexed about all this.

here's what prompted this today: my buddy gerv and i started commenting on each others' status on facebook. he'd post something clever. and i'd try to post something cleverer. or more clever. and then he'd make an attempt at posting something clevererer. and so forth. and pretty soon one or both of us will (this is on-going at this point in time) run out of anything clever to write. so what i need to know is, what is my obligation at that time?

do i continue to post something mindless? something that has absolutely no socially redeeming value? or just exactly when do we let the conversation just go away. since i posted first, is it suitable that he post last? (sorry for the delay here, had to go back to facebook and respond to his last response.)

are there rules regarding how you might go about ending something like this?

the same could be true for e-mailing. consider something like this: person a writes, "can you send me the link for that brain surgery website you mentioned the other day?" and person b writes back: "sure, it's www.howtoremoveahumanbrain.com". and person a is obliged to write back, "great. thank you." and person b, again, "you''re welcome."

and there's where it gets confusing. if you're person a do you respond? or is that the end. cause person b did you a great favor, so you may feel compelled to say, "i sure appreciate your help." and now person b has to write back with, "i'm always glad to help." person a, "i know. you always have been, and i genuinely appreciate that." and person b, "nice of you to say that." and this could keep going on ad nauseoum.

so i'd like to know if there are any established protocols for this type of communication. rules? regulations? do's? don'ts? if anyone knows anything about this, please let me know.

and then i'll write back with a "thank you." and you can write back with "you're welcome". and then . . . . .