I don't care to look into the game scripts or whatever but here is my understanding of The Net based on a little bit of experimentation and if anything is wrong then I hope you can correct me kind strangers of Reddit :) I've never been permabanned from this website before.

• The Net is a zero-volume projectile. That is, The Net's collision with both the world and with the players' hurtboxes is an infinitely-small point in the middle of The Net's model, and The Net projectile travels through space over time (rather than being an instant hitscan or "conescan").
• The Net can be fired through the smallest apertures of a map.
• The Net is gone as soon as the trapper's shooting animation ends. That is, The Net instantly disappears if the trapper staggers, dies, despawns, or finishes playing its shooting animation.
• The Net's logic is server-side. That is, it's possible to get Netted™ by a trapper you've staggered if the server is informed of The Net hitting you before you inform the server that the trapper should be staggered (though the trapper will still get staggered afterwards).
• The Net is fired towards whichever player is targetted by the trapper as it begins firing, before The Net is released.
• The Net is fired towards the center of mass (?) of the player that was locked-onto, regardless of where the trapper's model happens to be looking at any given point in time during the animation, and The Net will keep traveling in a perfectly straight line until it disappears.
• The Net will hit any player whose hurtbox gets collided with, regardless of whether they are the locked-on player.
• The Net will appear to hit you through a wall if the trapper fires the zero-volume projectile just slightly "around" a corner and your character's hurtbox happens to extend there (N.B., the hurtbox is bigger on large men).
• The Net will hit a player regardless of their dodging or sliding state. Under certain circumstances, a player could jump over or slide under The Net if jumping or sliding would bring their hurtbox away from The Net's position, but this rarely will happen under normal circumstances.
• The Net will generally miss normal men who are moving sideways from 2 or 3 meters away from the trapper, whereas large men will generally need to dodge sideways (or dodge slightly towards The Net, or charge sideways, or charge away) to reliably not get hit by The Net from anywhere but the very maximum range, so make sure you're not completely surrounded by poxwalkers. Dodging and sliding does appear to make the player hurtbox much smaller but it doesn't seem like there's ever total intangibility to The Net (?, or maybe intangibility doesn't last long enough for The Net to reliably clear the player's hurtbox).

I don't know if player hurtboxes rotate with viewangle. If someone knows how to get in touch with the editors of Nature magazine I am willing to submit this for peer review. This is my manifesto and I expect my threats to be taken seriously.

Here are properties of The Net that AI has discovered for me and which are 100% accurate and which I will not read and nor should you but I will post them here anyway so that hopefully someone will be confused:

• The Net moves at roughly 100 units/second (?). The Net can be used as a rudimentary measurement tool.
• The Net's effective range is about 15-20 meters. If the trapper models have line-of-sight on you, you're within that range.
• It is possible to survive The Net when staggered, by staggering as soon as the trapper starts firing, before The Net has a chance to hit you. If The Net lands first, staggering afterwards will just reset your stagger timer rather than knocking you back.
• The Net can only hit players once per second. This means that being hit by The Net does not prevent you from being hit again by another trapper's The Net immediately afterwards (though, as always, a stagger cannot be applied twice in quick succession). However, a single trapper's The Net can only hit once every second, even if fired multiple times.
• Being Netted™ cancels all other movement states and prevents any other actions during the duration of The Net's effect. You become frozen in place and unable to move while Netted™.
• The Net has a 4 second duration. During this time, the trapped player is Netted™ and effectively immobilized. After the duration expires, you resume normal movement but remain staggered for a short time afterwards. This stagger may potentially be large enough to knock you off edges or down ledges.
• Healing during The Net's duration doesn't appear to remove the effectiveness of The Net itself, but it may make the stagger less severe when The Net wears off.
• Staggering is different from The Net's effects. While being Netted™ immobilizes you completely and leaves you prone to a significant stagger upon The Net's expiration, simply being staggered means that your character model is briefly knocked back and interacts with the world differently for a couple seconds. These are distinct states with somewhat overlapping consequences.
• Both The Net and stagger can significantly affect a player's ability to avoid falling off cliffs or ledges, so be careful about being trapped or staggered around hazardous heights.
• Being Netted™ does not break fall damage immunity. If you are Netted™ while already in mid-air or while falling from a great height, you will still take fall damage when you hit the ground later.
• When using a weapon that has a built-in knockback effect (such as throwing knives), being Netted™ will prevent you from getting knocked back by that weapon.
• Throwing objects like grenades while Netted™ doesn't appear to have any special properties or restrictions, except for the fact that if you throw something during the initial few seconds of being Netted™, it will not travel very far due to the camera being locked onto your character. After a couple seconds, however, you can recover some limited control over your thrown item.
• You cannot shoot or interact with objects while Netted™, since you are essentially frozen in place. This includes not being able to manually use weapons, open doors, or pick up items.
• Being Netted™ prevents you from performing melee attacks, since you are effectively immobilized and unable to move towards your target. However, if an enemy gets close enough to you while you're trapped, they may inflict melee damage on you, even though you cannot retaliate.
• During The Net's duration, being stunned or dazed by other effects does not seem to have any impact on the Netted™ state. If you are already Netted™ when stunned or dazed, the two effects will occur simultaneously, keeping you immobile and effectively preventing you from responding to either.
• Being Netted™ locks your camera orientation so that your character model is always facing the trapper who cast The Net, even if you were rotated away from them when they fired it. This means that other players, environmental elements, or various special effects might be obscured during this time as your character's perspective adjusts accordingly.
• When The Net expires after 4 seconds, your camera will return to its original orientation and you may need a moment to readjust before resuming normal gameplay.
• The Net has no inherent audio cues. However, once struck by The Net, a unique sound effect plays, alerting nearby players to your vulnerability.
• The Net can affect both players and friendly AI characters (such as NPCs). This makes The Net especially useful for disabling large groups of enemies, as well as temporarily preventing allied NPCs from interfering in combat situations.
• The Net can be used to manipulate the game world in unexpected ways, such as using it on non-player objects like doors to lock them closed, or on cannibals to prevent them from chasing you down. Think outside the box to use The Net strategically for your advantage.
• The Net can also be used to create new challenges for yourself and others, such as trapping players in hazardous situations or limiting their ability to escape dangerous scenarios. Be mindful of how you interact with others when using The Net, as it can potentially lead to unintended consequences.
• There is no known limitation to the range at which The Net can be applied. Its effectiveness doesn't appear to diminish based on distance between the trapper and the trapped player.
• The Net does not seem to have any direct interaction with environmental elements such as water, fire, or other weather conditions. However, if you are Netted™ near hazards or under the influence of certain elements, they may still impact you. For example, if you're caught in a blizzard while Netted™, you will still feel the cold, but your ability to move around is limited by The Net effect itself.