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The Virtual Companion
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Compiled by Tom Rocklin.This month's Virtual Companion is designed to accompany the Techped article "The Intelligent Management of E-mail" in The National Teaching and Learning Forum, Volume 9 Number 6.
Gleanings on E-Mail Etiquette from Around the Net
(with annotations Lot's of advice on proper e-mail etiquette exists on the Net itself, but like manners in society, the etiquette changes over time. Indeed, "netiquette" seems to change almost as rapidly (or suddenly) as the technology itself. As Tom advises below, it's probably best to take your cues as much from what you see or hear happening in your correspondence as from any outside authority. Still, to see what others are saying and thinking about e-mail etiquette, read on. -- J.R.
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/documentation/leaflets/L03.html http://www.ukans.edu/~acs/email-etiquette.shtml http://www.adelaide.edu.au/ITD/Email/staff-etiquette.htm
From: http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~davidt/email_etiquette.htm http://www.itd.umich.edu/~doc/Digest/0496/feat04.html "The Rhetorics and Languages of Electronic Mail." With Gail Hawisher. In From Page to Screen: Taking Literacy into the Electronic Era. Ed. Ilana Snyder. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1997. 80-101 http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ccjrnl/Archives/v12/12_1_html/12_1_Contents.html#Moran "Notes Toward a Rhetoric of E-Mail." Computers and Composition 12, 1, 15-23.
Here are some pointers to help you make a positive impact when sending email On the Web, email will often be your first or only point of contact with other people. While you have your own distinct writing style, here are a few general pointers about email etiquette... Don't over-quote: If you're quoting somebody's message in your reply, try to quote only the relevant portions of the message and not the whole thing. For instance, I run a website promotion newsletter, and I often get the whole newsletter sent back to me with just a couple of lines to say "Thank you!". The thought is appreciated, but not the length of the message. This piece of advice is intriguing to me for what it says about the reader. Assuming the "thank you" lines were at the top, and the rest was marked as quotation, I wouldn't mind receiving the long message. It's a simple, efficient, and unambiguous way for the sender to identify what he or she is thankful for. I'd probably feel differently if I paid for my e-mail by the byte, as some people effectively do. In my situation at a university, though, what the heck, the electrons are easily recyclable. --T.R. Treat email confidentially: If somebody sends you information or ideas by email, you should not take it as a license to post that information in a public forum (discussion group, USENET newsgroup, chat site etc.) Email is one-to-one for a reason: it is often used for personal communication. Unless you are explicitly told otherwise, always assume that email you receive has a big "PRIVATE" sticker on it... and don't spread it around. Good advice, but stronger than I'd make it. There are e-mail communities of which I am a member that have informal norms that allow forwarding.-- T.R. Don't dice up names: I really get annoyed when somebody writes to me using a short form of my name. Many times, I have gritted my teeth as I read an email from a total stranger which begins "Hi, Ed!" On my site, and in all other communication, my name is spelled out in full: "Edwin". Until you know which form of a person's name they prefer, it's safer to stick to what you can see in "public" (on their site or in a newsletter) Avoid spraying messages around: If you want to mail a large number of people (for instance, on a mailing list) don't paste all the names into the "CC" field of your email program. If you do that, all the people you are writing to will be able to see the email addresses of all the other people. This can be very annoying as people usually don't like to disclose their email address in public. Always use "BCC" (blind carbon copy) instead. That way, each person will only see their own email address on your message. To make this work, you will have to put something in the "To;" field. That can be your own address, or more elegantly, a group descriptor enclosed in parentheses, thusly: (Selected Colleagues) -- T.R. Be wary of HTML mail: If you are sending an important message to somebody, don't use "HTML" code in your message unless you are sure that their email program can understand "HTML" correctly. If it doesn't, your message will become an unreadable mess! TIPS FROM VISITORS Here are some "etiquette tips" that have been sent in by site visitors. "As a retailer and owner of a Web site, I find E-mail to be a more courteous form of communication than face-to-face contact. It appears the rules for polite E-mail conduct are well-established. However, as polite in tone as they are, I'm tired of messages that are virtually unreadable, in terms of spelling and grammar, or ask repetitive questions. The remedies are easy and help ensure that original messages are clear and responded to in a timely manner. First, all of us need to check our spelling and grammar, first by simply running a Spellchecker, then by quickly reviewing the message again for punctuation and grammar. Little typos aren't a big deal. Massive typos and run-on sentences, however, go to the bottom of my correspondence folder. Second, carefully review replies dealing with multiple subjects. For example, I often get messages that ask multiple questions, i.e.. What's the price? What's the size? What are the shipping terms?, etc. In return, my replies are often replied to again and again with questions that were answered the first time. I imagine all of us complain about not receiving prompt answers to E-mail inquiries. But I have no doubt that part of the reason is that people on the receiving end are slowed down by queries that make no sense." "Due to the immediacy of email, a lot of people are quick to write replies or original emails with haste. This is alright when you have something quick to say, like, "Happy Birthday", but when you are upset or furious, the ease of pressing the SEND button can get you in a lot of trouble. If you are upset and you are composing an email, you can write it as hastily as you wish. But don't click the SEND button when you are done. Instead, let the email sit there for an hour or so while you cool off. When you return, review the email and make the changes you feel are appropriate, now that you have more composure. Another tip that I would like to add isn't so much about etiquette, but just plain advice. Communication between humans is approximately 90% body language, 8% tone of voice, and 2% what you say. With email, you remove the first 98%. Be aware of this when you write emails. Be very obvious with your meanings, since subtleties will be lost or completely misunderstood. Remember this too, when reading others' emails. Their grasp of the language, or their haste in composing the email, may have given it a "virtual tone" that may come off as derogatory or aggressive. Reread it and see if you are simply misinterpreting the words."
From:
http://cc.uoregon.edu/docs/etiquette.html
http://www.theistudio.com/netiquette/shallwestart.html "Always start your email with Hello, Hi, Dear or whatever works for you. When you make a phone call you always say Hello to the person who picks up the phone." I don't know about this one… why pick on the telephone as the appropriate analogy. What about the memo? TO:, FROM: RE: DATE: are all already in the e-mail header. On paper, the next thing would be to launch into the message. -- T.R. |
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