Should military courtesy be required in RallyPoint?

I think it is or most of the time will be natural. Its kind of an unspoken respect we should or do have with servicemembers of all ranks,branches, and active duty or veterans. Im new here but on similar sites it seems to stay respectful. Its a courtesy I like to hang on to. Its cool. I see a lot of my non-military friends respect and like how us veterans or active are among one another.

Honor is honor, respect is respect, courtesy is courtesy. As such, all these items and more should simply be core values for everyday life, in uniform or out. Problem solved! :-)

As someone else pointed out there is probably a reason for the question to come up and I'm a bit curious as to what caused you to ask.
I don't think I've seen anyone be discourteous of others on here. I may not always put a sir or a ma'am in front of a response I put in here and I would certainly hope that if I offended someone they'd shoot me a message in my in box and say so.

Reading the comments, the group seems to have my idea of the right approach. Common sense goes a long way here. Military courtesy revolves around rank (regulation/policy/UCMJ) ...common courtesy is based in social norms (right and wrong). I've been retired coming up on a year. It has already been said, a Chief is always going to be a Chief; a Sergeant Major is always going to be a Sergeant Major. I retired, I did not resign my commission, I will always be a Colonel. Some people can not turn military courtesy on and off; they either lack the discipline or common sense to know when to use someone's proper title and when it is ok to be familiar. Having said that, being retired, I'm as comfortable with someone calling me by my nickname as by my military rank and name. Today, I ensure those people know they have a choice, and I encourage them to do what is comfortable for them. I still have people that tell me they could never call me anything but COL Hoppe. But they know they have a choice. At the end of the day, common courtesy is what is expected. If you know your military boss is on this site or on a thread and you don't use common sense in addressing your boss...well, you kind of have to expect to get called out for it. An extension of that same thought process, if a person uses their proper military salutation, roll with it, they've earned it whether it is a corporal, chief petty officer, gunnery sergeant, etc. At the end of the day, we are all brothers and sisters in arms here. Common sense and common courtesy.

It's really pretty simple... Are you subject to the UCMJ? Read the elements for Disrespect to an Officer or NCO. There's no exception for Rally Point or any other social media. Now are most rational level headed individuals going to call you out... No. But, get into a pissing contest with someone that out ranks you and they get butthurt, don't be surprised if you get hauled into your commanders office. Or, bad mouth your chain of command on here and they read your rant... I believe this has already been tested on Facebook. I haven't read it in a long time but the Army has a social media guide.

Common Courtesy is what is needed period

RallyPoint is classified as a professional networking site so yes general courtesy needs to be observed. Regardless of status, rank, gender, branch of service, or whatever the golden rule of treating others as you wish to be treated still applies.

I don't have a problem either way. When I message I use first names. This isn't an "official" Military site so I have no problem with direct reply 's.

My wife is a veteran and she is on here, and every time I see someone call her SPC it just makes me feel weird! I am a MSG, I can't be with a SPC......granted....she got got out 12 years ago....still feels odd when I see that though

My 2¢:

This is not an official military site.

The members of this site consist of active and inactive/retired/ETSed service members.

Common courtesy dictates that you should address anyone either by their rank (such as MAJ or SFC or SSG) or title (such as Mr., Sir, Sergeant, or Corporal) and last name *especially* if you don't know the individual or they are in someway in your chain.

If they are not in your chain, you should still typically address them by rank or title.

However, IF you know the individual, or are at least acquainted with them enough that the two of you are amicable towards each other (there's my officer word for the day: "amicable"... heh), it is OK to address them by their first name in a public post, or if you outrank them.

If you are addressing someone you don't know who is NOT active, the proper title for them is "Mr./Mrs.", "Sir/Ma'am", or their retired rank. If you do know them, then again, first name is fine. If you are in a discussion, after the first "formal" address, it is ok to refer to someone by either last name or first name.

All that being said: Who cares? Just be respectful in tone (not that you can usually read tone in a post - don't get that wrong - never assume a tone is either condescending or praising unless there is absolute proof towards either - such as saying "I think you're a dirtbag" [condescending] or "You ROCK!" [praising]). If you work with them, and they're in your chain, use rank or "Sir". If you don't, just don't be a jerk.