CyberAlaska.com eMail Etiquette

eMail Etiquette

Some simple guidelines for eMail etiquette. It does not try to mandate any particular style or rules: it is instead an attempt to highlight improtant issues affecting the clarity of the electronic mail we send. After all, eMail is about communication, so clarity should be our goal. This section is based on a document distributed widley around the Internet over the last few years, and is in no particular order.

Addresses and Personal Names:

A personal name is an arbitrary string many mailers will allow you to define that is attached to your eMail address as a textual comment.

Always provide a personal name if your mail system allows it - a personal name attached to your address identifies you better than your address can on its own.

Use a sensible personal name: "Guess Who" or other such phrases are annoying as personal names and hinder the reciepient's quick identification of you and your message.

If your mail system lets you use personal names in the addresses to which you send mail, try to use them. this will often help a postmaster recognize the real recipient of the message if the addtess is invalid.

Example: The address 344188@foo.chaos.com conveys less information than if it were written as 344188@foo.chaos.com (Ford Perfect)

Subject Lines

Always include a subject line in your message. almost all mailers present you with the subject when you browse your mailbox, and it's often the only clue the recipient has about the contents when filing and serching for messages.

Make the subject line meaningful. for example, sending a message to Netscape Techinal support with the subject Netscape is practically as unhelpful as having no subject at all.

If you are replying to a message but are changing the conversation, change the subject too - or better still, start a new message all togather. the subject is usually the easiest way to follow the thread of a conversation, so changing thte conversation without changing the subject can be confusing and can make filing difficult.

Try to match your message lenght to the tenor of the conversation: if you are only making a quick query, then keep it short and to the point.

In general, keep to the subject as much as possible. If you need to branch off onto a totally new and different topic then it's often better to send a new message, which allows the recipiient the option of filing it seperatly.

Don't type your messaage in all-uppercase - it's extremely difficult to read (although a short stretch of uppercasse may serve to emphasize a point heavily). try to break your message into logical paragraphs and restrict your sentences to sensible lenghts.

Aviod public "flames" - messages sent in anger. Messagement in the heat of the moment generally only exacerbate the situation and are usually regretted later. Settle down and think about it for a while before starting a flame war. (Try going and making yourself a cup of coffee - it's amazing how much you can cool down even in that short a time, besides which a cup of good coffee is a great soother).

If your mail program supports fancy formatting (bold, italic and so on) in the mail messages it generates, make sure that the recipient has a mail program that can display such messages. At the time of writing, most Internet mail programs do not support anything other than plain text in messages, although this will change over time.

Be very careful about including credit card numbers in electronic mail messages, Electronic mail can be intercepted in transit and a valid credit card number is like money for someone unscrupulous enough to use it.

Replies

Include enough of the original message to provide a context. Remember that Electronic Mail is not as immediate a telephone conversation and the reciepient may not recall the contents of the original message, especially if he or she receives many messages each day. Include the relecant section from the original message helps the recipient to place your reply in context.

Include only the minimum you need from the original message. One of hte most annoying things youcan encounter in eMail is to have your original 5-page message quoted back at you in its entirety, with the words "Me Too" added at the bottom. Quote back only the smallest amount you need to make your context clear.

Use some kind of visual indication to distinguish between quited text from the original and your new text - this makes the reply much easier to follow. ">" is a traditional marker for quoted text, but you can use anything provided its purpose is clear andyou use it consistently.

Pay careful attention to where your reply is going to end up: it can be embarrasing for you if a personal message ends up on a mailing list, and it's generally annoying for the other list members.

Ask yourself if your reply is really warrented - a message sent to a list server that only says "I agree" is probably better sent to the person who originally sent the message.

A signature is a small block of text appended to the end of your message, which usually contains your contact information. Many mailers can add a sigature to your message automatically. Signatures are a great idea but are subject to abuse: balance is the key to a good signature

Always use a signature if you can: make sure it identifies who you are and includes alternative means of contacting you (phone and fax usually). In many systems, particularly where mail passes through gateways, your signature may be the only means by which the recipient can tell who you are.

Keep your signature short - four to seven lines is a handy guideline for maximum signature lenght. Unnecessarily long signatures waste bandwith(especially when distributed to lists) and can be annoying.

Some mailers allow you to add random strings to your signature: this is well and good and can add character if done carefully. You should consider the following basic rules though:

Keep it short. the lenght of your quote adds to the length of your signature. A 500 word excerpt from Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' used as a signature will not win you many friends.
Definitions of "offensive" very widely: avoid quotes that might offend people on the grounds of religion, race, politics or sexually.
Avoid topical or local quotes, since they may be meaningless to reciepients in other towns, countries or cultures.
Variable signatures are usually best if they're amusing; polemical outburst on politics or other such topics will turn most people off, but a one liner that brings a smile can make someone's day.

Courtesy

Electronic mail is all about communication with other people, and as such some basic courtesy never goes amiss.

If you're asking for something, don't forget to say "please". Similarly, if someone does something for you, it never hurts to say "thank you".

Don't expect an immediate answer. The fact that you don't get an answer from someone in ten minutes does not mean that he or she is ignoring you, and is no cause for offense. Electronic mail is all about dealing with your communications when you are able to do so.

Always remember that there is no such thing as a secure mail system. It is unwise to send very personal or sensitive information by eMail unless you encrypt it using a reliable encyptor. Remember the recipient - you are not the only person who could be embarrassed if a delicate message falls into the wrong hands.

The Bottom Line

Above all else, remember that eMail is about communication with other people. When you compose an eMail message, read it over before sending it and ask yourself what your reaction would be if you recieved it. Any time spent on making our eMail clearer is time well-spent, so let's start taking the time.

Stay in touch and keep the lines of communication open for the world....

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