Recommendations For Professional Email Netiquette

Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 21:53:20 -0400
To: ccn-board@chebucto.ns.ca
From: ljdeveau@chebucto.ns.ca
Cc: ccn-ip@chebucto.ns.ca, editors@chebucto.ns.ca, ccn-tech@chebucto.ns.ca, ccn-comm@chebucto.ns.ca
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Return-Path: <ccn-ip-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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Hi everyone,

I thought these pointers I received from a listserve I'm on might be
worthwhile in our various deliberations via email - some of which I'm still
learning myself :)

Cheers,
Leo
------------
>Top 7 Recommendations For Professional Email Netiquette
>
>1) Don't use all CAPS:
>   You may think that using all CAPS may seem attractive, but using
>   all caps is found to be amateurish if not completely annoying.
>   Think about it. If you open a message that has only a few starting
>   sentences that are all caps, you more than likely delete it as
>   spam. Professionals and new users alike are so accustomed to seeing
>   this poor "eye-catching" technique in their "junk mail" every day
>   that most of us delete them out of habit.
>
>2) Keep your signature file down to 6 lines or less:
>   If your message was deserving enough to earn my attention,
>   congratulations! I have read it and I have read your name at the
>   end. To that point you have gained my attention. Don't make the
>   mistake of thinking that I want to read another entire paragraph
>   of your ad material. Keep your "sig" file short with the
>   essentials and keep my attention. Your name, your email address,
>   your URL, your Web site name and a short catch-phrase advertising
>   your product or service. Don't scare me off with too much text
>   when I thought I was done.
>
>3) Please double space between paragraphs:
>   Even if you don't consciously realize it yet, your brain requires
>   "breathers" and looks forward to that line break. Now, maybe I
>   have been at it too long, but whenever I receive emails or
>   newsletters where a new paragraph is simply indented with no line
>   break between, it becomes slightly overwhelming and never-ending.
>   Do your reader(s) a favor; double space between paragraphs and
>   give them time to absorb what you have said so far.
>
>4) Subject headings are for "identifiable" subjects:
>   "Hi" doesn't cut it with me, mister. If I don't recognize your
>   email address or the name that shows in place of it, why would I
>   open yours out of the other 100 I have received. If you have an
>   important message for me, use a short (5 words or less) phrase,
>   which makes it clear why I should open your email. If you're
>   emailing other professionals, remember that many of us receive
>   such enormous amounts of junk mail that we must sometimes delete
>   mail based on the "subject heading" alone. I'm sorry, but unless
>   I know you, I just don't have time for "Hi."
>
>5) Please don't forward your trash to me:
>   Short of spamming me with your useless promises of riches, the
>   easiest way to get blackballed from my email is to send me useless
>   garbage to fill my mailbox. If I did have the time to feel lonely,
>   I'd join a chat room. If I'm feeling humorous, I have a wife and
>   a 5-year-old to entertain me. If I want my horoscope, I'll look
>   it up myself. I don't need to see your jokes, your chain letters
>   or your personal thoughts on religion. If you have something
>   genuinely beneficial, great. But don't send your garbage to me!
>
>6) Reply with the original message attached please:
>   How many times have you received a message that says nothing
>   but "yes" or another anonymous message that makes absolutely no
>   sense to anybody without the question attached. Unless you are
>   carrying on a conversation back and forth that you know will be
>   answered immediately, don't assume that I'll know what you're
>   talking about. It could be days before I get to your reply. Some
>   of you may have a photographic memory, but others of us have
>   trouble remembering what we had for dinner last night. So please
>   include the original message so I can refresh my memory on our
>   discussion.
>
>Top Mistake of this Writer:
>
>I held this one for the end because this was and occasionally still
>is my own number one mistake. Being a highly passionate person, I
>can react, or should I say overreact to something on the spur of
>any given moment. One of the many reasons I picked this work is that
>I have to time to think before I (virtually) speak. I have to admit
>that keeping my big mouth shut was always the hardest thing for me
>to accomplish. Apart from being passionate, I am also very opinionated.
>Although these can be admirable qualities in some circles, working
>through email offers me the time to think about what I say before I
>put my foot in my mouth.
----
>Today's article was submitted by "Wild Bill" Montgomery.

_________________________________________
Leo J. Deveau
Executive Director
Chebucto Community Net,
Halifax, N.S.
Canada
____________________________________
"The organic is not digital."
_____________________________________


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