What is “Netiquette”?
Put simply: electronic or Internet etiquette. It is a set of guidelines that help avoid mistakes (like offending someone when you don’t mean to) and misunderstandings (like being offended when you’re not meant to) when communicating on the “net” or Internet.
Here are some examples of courteous email communication practices:
1. Take A Careful Look Before You Send a Message
Do not assume that your email will be seen only by the recipient; your mail can be forwarded any number of times. Don’t send anything you don’t want to send. The beauty of the written word is you can revise it and even decide not to send it at all. Also, always check the “to” section of your message to make sure you are not responding to “all” when you really only wanted your message to go to the original sender. This will save you a lot of embarrassment .
2. Be Careful with Irony in Emails
It rarely works to your advantage unless you know your reader very well. There is much too much room for misinterpretation in email, so use irony sparingly.
3. Clean Up Emails Before Forwarding Them
Forwarding emails is a great way of sharing ideas, but make sure the original idea is not lost in the forwarding of forwarding forwarded messages. Delete as many layers of addresses and headers as possible before sending a message.
4. Avoid using ALL CAPS
On the Internet, writing in all CAPS means you are SHOUTING at someone. If you want to emphasize words, use *asterisks* around them.
5. Reply to or forward an email to which you are referring
When you want to refer to something in an email someone sent sometime back, just forward the earlier email and add your comments within the message. This way, people receiving the email will know the context in which they should read your mail.
6. Ask Before You Send Huge Attachments
Don’t clog email systems without permission. If you want to send a photo (or several), find out if your intended recipient can handle the large files.
7. Write a meaningful subject line
Never underestimate the importance of a subject line. Some people get hundreds of emails, so the trick is writing a descriptive subject line to catch the reader’s attention. Saying “Chapter 11″ could mean anything. If instead you said “Questions about Chapter 11,” the recipient will know the topic of the email.
If all you have to say can be said in a few words, for example “Do we have to read chapter 5?” you might consider putting the whole content of your message in the subject line. That way the person on the other end won’t have to open the email to get the point.
8. P-r-o-o-f-r-e-a-d
Always run a spell check on your emails, then proofread. The spell check may accept a word that exists in the dictionary, even if it does not make sense in the context of your sentence. An email with grammatical and spelling mistakes may make as bad an impression as a faulty resume.
9. Avoid “Me Too” Messages
When someone sends a reply message to a whole list of people that simply says, “Me too” it is truly annoying to the rest of the list.
10. Don’t believe every cybermyth, urban legend, hoax or virus “alert” sent to you
verify information at www.snopes.com or urbanlegends.about.com/
As a side note, there is a 99.999% probability that no one has a relative in any part of Africa that died and left you an inheritance.
Only forward jokes and chain letters if you are SURE the recipient wants them (and hasn’t already gotten a copy or three from someone else.)
