Question: I love to use e-mail and I'm sure that like regular correspondence, there are some rules of etiquette. What are they?
1. Always
use a subject line. It helps the recipient know what your message is about and
if answering it is a priority.
2. Be
brief. Some folks receive hundreds of messages every day. Respect their time
and keep your message to the point.
3. DON'T
USE ALL CAPS FOR YOUR MESSAGE. This implies that you're SHOUTING and someone
may misinterpret your message as being angry. Besides, it's difficult to read
large amounts of text in all caps.
4. Watch
what you say. If you wouldn't shout it from a mountain top, think twice about
putting it into an e-mail message. E-mail's not as "private" as you'd
like to think. You have no idea who the recipient might forward it to!
5. Interpretation
is in the eye (mind) of the reader. In contrast to a telephone conversation
where the other party can hear the tone of your voice, e-mail can easily be
misinterpreted by the reader. Sometimes a perfectly harmless message is
misunderstood by the reader and feelings can be hurt.
6. Use
"smileys" to add clarity to your message. If you think the
"mood" of your message might be misunderstood, use smileys to help
convey the feeling. Here are a few examples. They are a combination of keyboard
characters that when "read" sideways, show feeling:
7. :)
(smile) created by typing a colon and a right parenthesis
8. :(
(frown) created by typing a colon and a left parenthesis
9. ;-)
(winking) created by typing a semi-colon and right parenthesis
10. :-()
(yell) created by typing a colon, a dash, a left and a right
parenthesis.
11. ;-Q
(tongue hanging out) created by typing a semi-colon, a dash, and a
capital Q.
Get creative
and think of your own. Just creating them makes you smile!
This tip is
from Barb's book, Taming Your Computer The Simple BASICS. You may order
it from her website: www.TamingYourComputer.com.
E-mail Barb
at MyComputerLady@aol.com to sign up for her FREE e-mail newsletter.
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