Net Etiquette

Email

Knowing how to appropriately use your mailing service.

General Guidelines:

• Do not send abusive, harassing or threatening messages.


• Do not send chain letters through email. This includes any message that contains a request to forward the information to lots of other people. No matter what the letter potentially offers you.


• Do not send virus alerts. Simply informing people you know about a good virus alert website will suffice.


• Be cautious when using sarcasm and humor. Without facial expressions and tone of voice, they do not translate easily through email.


• Don't leave your email account open when you leave your computer. Anyone could sit down at your keyboard and send out any libelous/offensive/embarrassing message under your name.


• Keep messages and replies brief.


• Use email in a professional manner. Remember, you cannot control where your message might be sent.

Treat email confidentially:  If somebody sends you information or ideas by email, you should not take it as a license to post that information in a public forum (discussion group, USENET newsgroup,chat site etc.) Email is one-to-one for a reason: it is often used for personal communication. Unless you are explicitly told otherwise, always assume that email you receive has a big "PRIVATE" sticker on it... and don't spread it around.

Avoid spraying messages:  Using the BCC: option on your mailing service (Netscape-Messenger, Kmail, Balsa, Eudora, Outlook Express and many others allows for privacy, hence, blind carbon copy. Always use BCC: when sending a mail out to more than one account, this way each person will see only their email address on your message. Remember not everyone wants their mail account exposed to hundreds even thousands of potiental email abusers. Do NOT use BCC when you should be using CC such as in an corporate setting where you are sending a specific email to a person AND to a third party who is involved in the email. BCC should not be used to hide the fact that you are also sending the same email to (for example) your boss.

Avoid SPAMMING:  Don't send unsolicited email to anyone to promote your business. If you have good marketing, and an original business idea, then people will come to you.

Security:  Never send anything you would not want to see in tomorrow's newspaper. There are no security guarantees with electronic mail. Avoid sending ANY confidential or sensitive information via email. Remember, it's very easy for someone else to forward messages you thought were confidential. Use gpg or pgp to send encrypted email.

HTML Emails:  Don't send HTML email unless it's asked for. HTML can't be read by all email programs or servers, and it takes longer to download. Fancy colored fonts and the like can even crash an email program. Not a good impression to make! (It also can be irritating to get what looks like a screaming web page in your mail.)