Many instructors are planning to teach their writing classes in the networked computer classroom. Through the use of electronic mail, course listservs, and chat programs, the instructor is offered the opportunity to facilitate a more egalitarian classroom discourse that creates a strong sense of community, not only between students, but also between students and instructors. Unfortunately, some inflammatory and offensive discourses appear over the network, including such words as "bitch" or "fag." Another far more subtle and far more problematic discourse also exists which does not necessarily seek to offend, but does seek to create a patriarchal discourse within the proposed egalitarian network. The networked classroom, with its emphasis on the student, its de-emphasis on the instructor, and its filtration of social and linguistic context clues allows for an open and safe discourse. Instructors should guide discussions by first-year students by: creating an initial context for the discussion, setting norms, setting agenda, recognizing and prompting the participants, "meta-commenting," or dealing with problems in context, and waiting for a period of time before responding on-line, allowing time for reflective thought. In an effort to confront offensive and oppressive language, many universities have imposed both friendly speech codes and network usage agreements. Contains 24 references. (CR)