Email Netiquette and Guidelines
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila." (Mitch Ratcliffe)
General
- Never give your userID or password to another person. Anyone who needs to access your account for maintenance, or to correct problems, will already have full access.
- You should not assume that mail on the Internet is private. Never put in a email message anything you would not put on a postcard.
- Respect the copyright on material that you reproduce. Almost every country has copyright laws.
- If you are forwarding an email that you've received, do not change the wording. If the message was a personal message to you and you are sending it on, you should ask the author's permission first.
- Never send chain letters through the Internet. Sending them can result in the loss of your Internet Access.
- Do not send HTML emails unless you are sure that they will be welcome. Email is, primarily, a text only medium.
- Limit line length to aproximately 65-70 characters.
- Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point.
- When replying to a message, include enough original material to be understood but no more. It is extremely bad manners to simply reply to an email by including all the previous text. Edit out all the irrelevant material.
- Mail should have a subject heading which reflects the content of the message. It helps people sort their messages.
- Use mixed case. UPPER CASE LOOKS AS IF YOU'RE SHOUTING.
- Use symbols for emphasis - * or _ are the symbols most commonly used.
That *is* what I meant.
I _told_ him about this. - Use smileys to indicate tone of voice.
- Don't assume that the inclusion of a smiley will make the recipient happy with what you say or wipe out an otherwise insulting comment.
- If you include a signature keep it short - no longer than 4 lines. Remember that many people pay for connectivity by the minute, and the longer your message is, the more they pay.
- A good rule of thumb: Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what you receive.
- Don't send heated messages (flames) even if you are provoked. On the other hand, you shouldn't be surprised if you get flamed and it's prudent not to respond to flames.
- Wait overnight to send emotional responses to messages. You may have calmed down somewhat by morning.
- If in doubt about whether you should reply strongly to someone - don't!
- Be professional and careful what you say about others. Email is easily forwarded.
- In general, it's a good idea to check all your mail subjects before responding to a message. Sometimes a person who asks you a question will send another message which basically says "Never Mind".
- Make sure that any message you reply to was directed to you. You might have been cc'ed (the email equivalent to "carbon copy") rather than the primary recipient.
- Watch cc's when replying. Don't continue to include people if the messages have become a 2-way conversation. Target your email replies effectively.
- Be careful when addressing mail. There are addresses which may go to a group but the address looks like it is just one person. Know to whom you are sending.
- In general, most people who use the Internet don't have time to answer general questions about the Internet and its workings. Don't send unsolicited mail asking for help to people whose names you might have seen somewhere unless they have specifically indicated that they would be happy to receive such mail.
- Remember that people with whom you communicate are located across the globe. The recipient of your urgent message might be at home asleep when it arrives. Give them a reasonable chance to respond before assuming the mail didn't arrive or that they don't care.
- Know whom to go to if you receive anything questionable or illegal. Most sites also have a "postmaster" or "abuse" address to whom you can send copies of such mail in order to get help.
- Remember that your correspondant is a human being whose culture, language, and humor may be different to your own.
- Emails can be forged. Apply common sense checks before assuming a message is valid.
- Types of "behaviour" learnt during one particular email correspondance may not apply to your general email communication. Be careful with slang or local terminology.
- The cost of delivering an e-mail message is, on the average, paid about equally by the sender and the recipient. This is a fundamental economic reason why unsolicited email advertising is unwelcome (and is forbidden in many contexts).
- Know how large a message you are sending. Including large files, such as pictures, may make your message expensive to download. Check with your recipent first.
- Don't send large amounts of unsolicited information to people.
Mailing List Specific
- Send subscribe and unsubscribe messages to the appropriate address. It is your responsibility to learn how the list works, and to send the correct mail to the correct place.
- Save the subscription messages for any lists you join. These usually tell you how to unsubscribe as well.
- In general, it's not possible to retrieve messages once you have sent them. Any emails that you send to a mailing list are your responsibility - as are the consequences that might follow.
- Check the "Reply-To" address when replying to a message from a list. Do you want your reply to go to the whole list or just one person?
- Don't send large files to mailing lists when other resources (such as World Wide Web) are available. Check the mailing list guidelines. If you don't know what they are, ask.
- Consider unsubscribing or setting a "nomail" option (when it's available) when you cannot check your mail for an extended period.
- Some mailing lists are private. Do not send mail to these lists uninvited. Do not report mail from these lists to a wider audience.
- If you are caught in an argument, keep the discussion focused on issues rather than the personalities involved.