Personal Touch
I recommend you begin your messages with a brief intro such as, "Hello, Pat",
before expressing your message content. It's also a good idea to use a personal
closing such as, "Regards, Doug".
I have received messages that not only did not contain these considerations but
were sent from someone else's e-mail address so it took a while to determine who
was sending me the message and why. Please remember this if you share an account
with your spouse, family or roommate.
Failing to Reply
You are not expected to reply to messages meant for general distribution. You
should always reply to someone who has limited e-mail experience, a "newbie".
Particularly when servers may be unreliable or your correspondents may be unsure
of your address, you can reassure them by replying to their e-mail.
Subject Missing or Unclear
Please include a descriptive subject for each e-mail message. Software such as
Netscape Messenger may prompt you for a subject if you've forgotten to specify
one. Very busy recipients may ignore your message, or even delete it unread, if
it lacks a good subject line.
Indiscriminate Distribution
As they do with paper mail, some people send copies indiscriminately. It's not
OK to send your messages to everyone and his brother just because you won't take
the time to decide who really needs the information. It's frustrating to puzzle
over an e-mail trying to figure out why you received it.
Lengthy Distribution Lists
Have you received an e-mail with a long list of addressees? There may be
occasions when you want everyone be able to identify the other recipients but
often the other addresses simply clutter the message header. Instead of using
"To" when sending to several recipients, use "Bcc".
Attachment or Links with no Explanation
Have you received a message saying something like, "Thought you might be
interested in this", followed by an attachment or link? If you are attaching a
file, you should give a brief explanation of the file's content and what type of
file it is (WordPerfect, MS Word, Excel, etc.). You should realise your
recipient might not have the same software you're using and could use help
opening the file. You should introduce URLs you're including in your message
with a synopsis and indication of how long it might take to load the linked
page.
Attaching a Web page
Do not attach Web pages. They may take a long time to download, tying up the
recipient's system. Some users might not have the software needed to load the
page properly. If you want to refer someone to a site, use Copy, Paste to
include the URL in your message. Thus, your recipient can go to that site when
and if she chooses.
HTML Formatting
Most Internet software will now accommodate variety of fonts, point sizes, text
and background colours, graphics and so on in e-mail. Just because you can
include such formatting doesn't mean you should do so indiscriminately. HTML
enlarges messages, requiring longer send and download times. Some recipients
will immediately delete messages with HTML formatting. I think that's
overreacting but plain text is wiser until you're sure about your recipients'
attitude.
Incomplete vacation notice
Many of us have used Algonquin's vacation notification utility. If you do,
please include info about what will happen to a sent message while you're away.
Will you attend to it when you return? Also, please include your name with your
notification message. See E-mail server settings on my
home page.
Using Netscape Messenger for Email
Sending and receiving mail (using Netscape Communicator)
A Beginner's Guide to Effective Email
Computer virus myths (Check this site if you ever get a warning about e-mail viruses)
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Page last updated on September 04, 2003
Comments: send e-mail to Doug