E-Mail Etiquette Notes

The original document is at http://www.iwillfollow.com/email.htm

2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.

3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files.

4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.

5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.

6. Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.

7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization.

8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual property.

9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write.

10. Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.

1. Do read and obey the policies of your Internet Service Provider (AOL, Prodigy, etc.).
2. Check E-mail daily and remain within your limited disk quota.
3. Delete unwanted messages immediately since they take up disk storage.
4. Keep messages remaining in your electronic mailbox to a minimum.
5. Mail messages can be downloaded or extracted to files then to disks for future reference.
6. Never assume that no one except yourself can read your E-mail; never send or keep anything that you would mind seeing on the evening news.
7. When you are away for a period of time (1 –2 weeks or more) unsubscribe to automatic mail.
8. Keep files to a minimum. Download files to your personal computer's hard drive or to diskettes.
9. Routinely and frequently virus-scan your system, especially when receiving or downloading files from other systems to prevent the spread of a virus.
10. Your files may be accessible by persons with system privileges, so do not maintain anything private in your disk storage area.

Messages should be short and to the point. One subject per email.

No extra punctuation. If it’s important, say it in the message.

Try to keep the line length less than 80 characters for old email programs.

You should use plain text only. Fancy formatting can cause problems with some servers.

Use abbreviations that are common (i.e. FYI)

You should "sign" (provide: name, address, and email) your email at the end of your message.

Threads are the sequence of messages that occur when forwarding is done. If the thread will assist the one who receives the message, it should be retained.

Quoting is the symbol ">" used in the beginning of a line to reflect the thread of a previous message. If the quoting is long (e.g. 50 or 100 lines), you should reduce (cut) extraneous text to retain the idea of previous text before your response.

Consider arranging your messages on the system using folders (Outlook Express) or personal filing system (AOL) so the message can be recalled at any time instead of printing every message.

Consider all email to be in the public domain.

It's basically a verbal attack in electronic form.

In order to not be flamed do not:

Send an e-mail in all UPPER-CASE, or containing abusive language or pornographic literature.

Make a comment about grammar or punctuation.

Send a mass-mailing advertisement.

Request computer help without providing system-specific information.

Email is at least cheaper, and sometimes faster.

Blessing: You can deal with the messages and responses in your own time. Curse: You cannot expect that someone will read you email as soon as it is received even if you are notified that it was opened.

A newsgroup is a collection of related e-mail messages tied to a specific topic. Don't call a newsgroup a anything but a newsgroup. Before posting (sending an e-mail message) to a newsgroup, you should: 1) monitor it for a few days (called lurking) to make sure the newsgroup's content is relevant to your interest, and 2) read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section if there is one. FAQs usually will provide a statement of direction for the newsgroup along with any other guidelines for its usage.