The following was sent out to my PC User Group members.  It's a
refresher that all of us on Listserves really need to know.
 
Sylvia Edwards
 
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The bulk of the following email etiquette is taken from
http://everythingemail.net.  There is a lot of info at the site
on email software, finding email addresses, mailing lists, spam,
etc.
~~~~~~~
 
NEVER CLICK REPLY and then type in addresses.... your message
will probably
go out with one or more >'s in front of each line.  Click
FORWARD....and
while we're on the subject of forwarding....
 
....Remove those >>>>>>'s  from anything you forward...or else
don't bother
to forward the joke, inspirational story, whatever.  Your
recipient probably
won't read it anyway.  If we all honor rule no. 1, then this rule
is not
needed.  You can remove those >'s automatically by
copying/pasting into
Wordpad.
 
Remove all headers from a message before you forward it.  I've
received
messages with 10 to 20 screens of headers (hundreds of email
addresses).
NEVER  EVER (I'm shouting)  forward a message with other people's
email
addresses listed.   Yeah, we all slip up and forget but some of
you never
even bother to try.  AOL users are the worst offenders because of
the way
their email system for forwarding works... Copy and Paste.
 
DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPS. This is perceived as shouting.
 
Use emoticons (smileys) when trying to convey a tone of voice :-)
 
Limit line length to 65-70 characters across. Otherwise some
e-mail programs
will wrap the text at wrong points or not wrap it at all.
 
Consider carefully what you write; it's a permanent record and
can be easily
forwarded to others.
 
Write succinctly. Don't waste bandwidth. E-mail may be
inexpensive to most,
but not to all.
 
Don't attach large files (over 50K) without getting permission
from your
recipient first.
 
Don't attach files for posting to discussion groups.
Turn off e-mail formatting (non-ASCII) when posting to a
discussion group.
 
Don't send entire web pages to a discussion group, just the URLs
(http's).
 
When sending a web site address, always type it in the form of
"http://…"
because some e-mail programs will permit the user to click on a
web address
to go right there. Without the "http://" prefix these programs
will not
recognize it as such.
 
Don't blatantly promote your business by posting an advertisement
to a
discussion group, unless it is clearly an accepted use and you
have cleared
it with the moderator (if there is one) first. Otherwise, you are
"spamming."
 
Write descriptive subject lines. Many busy people will only open
messages
with captivating subject lines. Think creatively.
 
Don't quote back an entire message when only responding to one or
two points.
 
Delete the excess and make a note at the very top before starting
the quotes.
 
Some e-mail programs will automatically set up to quote the
original message
when replying and put you at the end of that message. This is
very annoying
to your recipients.
 
When forwarding messages, put your comments at the top of the
message.
 
Don't overuse acronyms like BTW (by the way) or IMHO (in my
humble opinion).
Not everyone is experienced with this jargon and they may not
want to admit
their confusion - possibly losing your point.
 
Do not forward personal e-mail to a discussion group without
getting the
author's permission first.
 
Read over your e-mail before you send it. Although e-mail is a
more informal
method of communication than writing a letter, be sure you make
your points
clear and concise. Use a spell checker if available.