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E-mail, how do you use it?¹

Learn a little about sending e-mail

Even with the best of intentions, misunderstandings are likely to occur in almost any type of communication. It is possible to repair glitches in a face-to-face dialog or even a telephone conversation before any lasting damage occurs.

These participants are able to change their tone of voice, to rephrase comments and to present body language that  welcomes further communication and thus promotes understanding.

However, electronic mail does not offer the benefit of these signals for e-mail users. And so, it is hoped that the guidelines offered herein will help reduce the  misunderstandings and other communication challenges that e-mail brings.

Receiving and Responding to Messages

• THINK before you write. Carefully compose your response.
• If you receive a message intended for another person, don't just ignore it; forward it with a short explanation.
• Avoid flaming or the expression of extreme emotion or opinion in an e-mail message. It can generate ill feelings.
• If a message generates emotion, read it again; reassess the message.
• Assume the good intentions and competence of the sender.
• When communication seems tense or unclear, consider alternative media to clearly communicate information and intentions; break the cycle of send and respond - pick up the phone.
• Be concise in your messages; avoid irrelevancies.
• When you are wrong, promptly admit it. If you have regrettably issued an impulsive response, folks are often more forgiving if you recognize this shortcoming.

Sending

• Create single subject messages whenever possible.
• Watch the send button.
• Assume that any message you send is permanent.
• Separate opinion from non-opinion. Think about the level of formality you put in a message.
• Think about the content of your e-mail, does it have to be an e-mail?. Is it able to shared some other way, links for example, are much easier to share using sites such as delicious.com. These sites are in fact designeds for social interactivity online. A combination of tags and social connections make them very effecient at sending and sharing this kind of information.
• Identify yourself and your affiliations clearly.
• Create separate signature files for business and personal use if necessary.
• Target your audiences carefully when you broadcast information. Use the BCC field if you are sending out a mass communication to others in your orginisation, as some people may not want to have their e-mail address "broadcast" to the entire organisation. Once sent others may use this "list" of addresses for their own purpose, which may run counter to or be diffenet from yours.
• Never assume that people are using the same kind of computer or software to read and send email as you. Just becasue you can dress your e-mail up with all sorts of fancy looking effects [here is a picture of a fraction of the code the previous e-mail generates slowng down networks and incresing storage space requirments in the process] doesn't mean the recipeint can. They may even choose to turn off this feature. Plain text is ALWAYS the best option.
• Never insult or criticize third parties without giving them the opportunity to respond.
• When writing your message keep your intended audience in mind. Your intended audience will often influence your choice of language and style.
• Keep the list of recipients and Cc:'s to a minimum.
• Stick to the subject of your message.

Flaming

According to the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making, one attribute of e-mail that most distinguishes it from other forms of communication is its ability to evoke emotion in the recipient.

• Misinterpretation of the content or form of the e-mail message plus the likelihood that the recipient will then fire off a hasty response often exacerbates the situation. This expression of extreme emotion or opinion in an e-mail message is referred to as flaming.
• Unlike telephone and personal conversations that fade with time, impulsive e-mail responses can sit around in mailboxes, be printed out, circulated and acquire a level of importance that was never intended [1].
• This is a real barrier to effective communication and can have a negative impact on work productivity and work relationships.

Further reading:-

Causes of flaming

How to minimize its occurrence

Form

• Get to the point quickly! The most important statements should appear in the first paragraph. Details can follow in subsequent paragraphs.
• Think through what you want to say and write it as succinctly as possible.
• Create single subject messages whenever possible. For example, if you have three separate items to cover, use short messages. This allows each message to be filed, retrieved and forwarded separately according to content.
• Good descriptive subject lines allow easy scanning for message content in mailboxes. Replies can then be tailored to the specific content in the message.
• Take the time to proof read and use the spell check!
• Good hook or subject lines get attention. Start with a strong subject line that identifies the message content. This enables the user to to file and later retrieve the message quickly.
• Write the message and header to fit on one screen
• Use the underscore "_" character before and after book titles, newspaper names, or foreign phrases. E.G.: the _UCLA General Catalog_, a copy of _The New York Times_, or she graduated _magna cum laude_. This is a formal convention. You may also use "*" for this purpose.
• Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or distinguish a title or heading. Capitalizing whole words that are not titles is generally termed as SHOUTING, and more dificult to read!
• Use an *asterisk* around a word to emphasize a point.
• Limit line length to approximately 65-70 character and avoid control characters.
• Avoid misinterpretation of dates by spelling out the month. E.G.: 24 JUN 98 or JUN 24 98.

Make use of bullets and short paragraphs whenever possible. The more succinct you are the more likely your message will be.

• Read
• Understood
• Acted upon

Causes of flaming

The ease of creating an immediate and not necessarily thoughtful response to an e-mail message is often too tempting.

Interpersonal cues that aid the face-to-face communication process, immediate feedback and body language are completely absent in this medium.

It is difficult to tell the level of formality of a message from its appearance; all messages look somewhat the same.

Without face-to-face communication, attempts at humor, irony, sarcasm, and wit are often misinterpreted. Your joke may be viewed as   criticism by some.

Minimizing Flames and Flaming

In written and telephone communications, time can soften the edge of an ill-conceived response. A hasty e-mail response can remain permanently in sharp focus. To minimize e-mail communication problems:

• Resist the temptation to fire off a response.
• If you must, draft a response and let it cool off for a time before sending it. Reconsider the response later after a walk to the coffee or ice cream shop, for example.
• Read and interpret the original message again.
• Use alternative media to break the cycle of message -and-response.
• A telephone call or personal conversation can do wonders.
• Respond to opinion with evidence, or facts that are relevant.
• Emoticons are no substitute for clear and concise writing.
• Emoticons are combinations of keyboard characters that convey emotion when viewed sideways...smileys= :-).
• Emoticons may work with recipients who are familiar with their use but not necessarily with those who are new to the electronic medium.

Signature files

• A signature file can provide useful information such as a mailing and e-mail address, phone/fax number, web site address or other contact information.
• Four or five lines are are about the maximum. The signature file usually appears at the end of your e-mail message
• Think of the signature file as your electronic business card.
• It can be humorous, a quotation or anything you like just keep it short and simple.
• It is considered more appropriate to NOT use graphics of any kind, unless necessescary, in your signature file. The reason being it helps download speeds and keeps your inbox size to a minimum. This image, while well intentioned, contributes to the network slowing down and fills people's inbox to overflowing, very quickly.

Footnotes

¹ This article has been lifted in it's entirety, and edited slightly by me, from http://www.library.yale.edu/training/netiquette/ without permission and is intended only as a guide for others.