Since almost all of us have access to electronic mail, the service plays a vital role in communicating with each other and with the rest of the world.
As our networks are linked to the Internet this means you are also a member of a global, networked community. Whether you are a new or experienced member of this community, it is important to be aware of the conventions and points of good practice, which have been developed within the community - network etiquette or ’netiquette’.
Please adopt these simple points of good practice and etiquette in your everyday use of the e-mail service, more so for official and corporate communications.
-> Make the subject line meaningful so the recipient knows what the e-mail is about straight away.
-> If the correspondence becomes lengthy, alter the subject line to reflect the discussion’s progression. If an e-mail debate looks like becoming an epic, pick up the phone - it saves time and prevents misunderstandings.
-> Be as professional and polite as you would be in person or in a business letter.
-> Check spelling, grammar and capitalization.
-> Send short, concise messages.
-> Avoid using emoticons - not everyone likes or understands them ;-)
-> Avoid excessive punctuation!!!? -> Avoid sending large unsolicited attachments.
-> Check attachments you receive for viruses. -> Try to respond to e-mail within 24 hours.
-> Don’t forward junk mail.
-> Don’t CC (carbon copy) more people than necessary. It’s a waste of bandwidth and disrespectful to others’ time.
-> If you are sending an e-mail to multiple recipients, consider using the BCC (blind carbon copy) function to keep the addresses private.
-> Be careful about the ’reply to all’ function. There’s nothing worse than sending a private message to a whole group unintentionally.
-> Always double-check the ’To’ field before sending out your message.