Mind Your Email Manners
Ten reminders about email etiquette and manners that we think everyone should follow. We try to and you should too.
- Do not send messages without a subject in the subject line.
- Do not send a 2nd email to complain “the first” was not answered quickly enough. People are not on their computers all the time.
- Do not click reply to an old message and talk about something completely different from the subject
- When responding to a message leave the original message intact.
- Do not include huge attachments or send many attachments at once.
- Don’t type in all CAPS – people will think you’re rude and yelling at them. (This does not apply to those who are visually impaired.)
- Refrain from using text messaging acronyms or other texting shorthand in your emails. For example, don’t write something like “HRU? R U coming 2 the festival Sun.? TTYL.” Some folks won’t have a clue what stuff like HRU & TTYL means.
- Try to make your emails as much like a written letter as you can. Imagine you’re going to snail mail a letter. Try to make your emails as much like a written letter as you can.
- Don’t reply in anger. If you’re angry, don’t answer the email that provoked your anger right away. Wait a day before replying. It’s very hard to undo the damage done by sending an angry reply. So give your reply some thought before you fire off letter filled with angry words and say things you’re probably going to regret later.
- If you’re sending your email to several people, put your email address in the “To” field and put all the other recipients in the “BCC” field. If you put recipients’ email addresses in the CC field or the “To” field you’ll be sending everyone’s email address to everyone else. Be courteous and hide the email addresses of multiple recipients by putting them in the “BCC” field. It only takes a few extra seconds and it keeps everyone’s email address private.
