Keep Your Voice Down
SHA Newsletter: Vol 2. No. 3

If you are receiving this message, then you use email. More and more it seems as though everyone uses email. Use it properly, because running afoul of email etiquette can get nasty results.

Don't use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and Overdone Punctuation!!!!!!!!!
Long ago, in the age of teletypewriters and telegrams, a message sent in capitals was acceptable. The old teletype machines (used by news services like the Associated Press and United Press International) had only capital letters. Receiving a telegram meant that you were getting really urgent and important news.

But today, using capitals in email suggests that you are shouting at your recipient. It connotes anger directed at your reader. Let's try it out:

BUT TODAY, USING CAPITALS IN EMAIL SUGGESTS THAT YOU ARE SHOUTING AT YOUR RECIPIENT. IT CONNOTES ANGER DIRECTED AT YOUR READER.

See what I mean? Doesn't that feel uncomfortable?

In addition, many email filters will interpret excessive capitalization as a sign of an unsolicited message. Either way, doing this will help make your message
unwelcome.

Write well
Your English teacher was right. Spelling and grammar count in email. They really do. When you send an email, do the best you can to communicate effectively and correctly. Incomplete sentences and misspelled words reflect poorly on your ability to communicate and on your command of the subject at hand. Poor phrasing and awkward vocabulary will confuse your readers and keep your message from getting through.

When you fail to compose a message carefully and correctly, it suggests that the message is unimportant. If it were important, you would have taken the time to check spelling and grammar. When you show that you don't care about the message, your reader won't either.

Be Gentle
We're human, and so we care about our feelings and those of others. But email is a highly impersonal medium. It's terribly easy to be confused or upset by what you see in an email. When you find yourself upset about a message, resist the temptation to send an emotional reply. It won't help and will in most cases make a small misunderstanding worse.

The term for such an angry response is a "flame". When several correspondents are sending angry emails, it's a "flame war". If you are imagining Rambo swinging a flame-thrower around, then you have the right idea. Everyone involved in a flame war gets burned.

Until you know for sure, always assume that a controversy in email is due to misunderstanding or confusion. Don't start an argument via email without politely clarifying what's going on. Better yet, choose to avoid arguments via email.

Don't use HTML email
If you need to communicate with many people, avoid HTML email. HTML is the fancy language that lets emails look like Web pages. It goes by names like "Web email", "rich-text", or "HTML format". When you use features like embedded pictures, fonts, colors, or "stationery"; you're using HTML mail. HTML mail is frowned upon by many for several reasons:

• HTML messages can be up to ten times larger than plain text ones. Many Internet users pay for email based on the size of messages or by the minutes connected. Long HTML messages cost them money.
• Not all email programs can display HTML. Your message might be unintelligible when it arrives.
• HTML messages can contain damaging programming code.
• HTML messages can be used to identify active email addresses, which compromises privacy.

You might relax this rule if you are sending email strictly within a private messaging system, such as at your employer. In that case, you might have to use HTML mail in order to satisfy some company requirement.

Quote others effectively
When replying to messages, trim unnecessary text. Don't simply reply and send the original message back. It's a waste, and can confuse others who receive your reply.

It's also a good idea to reply in line with the original message. If the original message asks a question, give the answer AFTER the question, instead of at the very top. And indent the original message, using a flag character, so the answer is clearly different from the question. Every email program worth its salt can be set to do polite quoting automatically. It often looks like this:

> What does a nice reply look like
> in an email message?

Something like this. You can tell which is the original question and where the answer is.

When you send messages to email mailing lists, replying at the top of the message is known as "top-posting". Replying in-line, with the original message text indented, is "bottom-posting".

Consider email to be permanent
Email messages are saved in many places: in your local saved-mail folder, on your ISP's mail server, by your recipient, and by possibly dozens of computers that handle the message in between. Email messages you send to mailing lists are deliberately archived so they can be searched later. Search engines index those archives. As a result, messages you send are very likely to be around -- somewhere on the Internet -- just about forever.

An angry, offensive, or hurtful message you send might be found years later: by a potential employer, an ex-spouse, a business partner, a fiancee. When you send an email, be sure it's something you'd be willing to own up to ten or twenty years from now.

Emails provide others with a lasting electronic impression of you. Make it a good impression.

Please note: Any trademarks and trade names of others mentioned in this message are the property of their owners, and not Stoney Hill Associates, LLC. We respect the intellectual property of others. The information provided is believed to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee that the procedures and information given here will work correctly for your specific situation.

If you would like help with a computer or software problem you face, contact us. Send an email to request@stoneyhillassociates.com.

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