E-Mail 							Netiquette Primer

Netiquette is not about what you should do when sending 

Internet e-mail, but rather about what you shouldn't do. There are all sorts of
written and unwritten codes of behavior that as a citizen of the Net, you are
expected to follow. Failing to follow these procedures results in either flaming,
destruction of your credibility or both.

Back to New Yawk

Let's say you live in New York City. More than any other place on this earth, in
NYC you are expected to follow certain practices. If you get even a smidgen out
of line the residents there will know you're a tourist. It's even tougher to fit
in there than in a foreign country, for reasons that I have yet to discern.

One of the most important rules in New York is to avoid eye contact. If you're
caught looking at someone you'll learn quickly not to do it again. Maybe you'll
get a rude comment--"Whattaya lookin' at, freak?" Or, if you're really lucky,
you'll receive a free shove along with the same remark.

Another important thing to do in New York is to refrain from looking upward,
especially in Manhattan. Lifelong residents have seen enough skyscrapers to last
them a lifetime. They know the buildings are there, so why bother looking up?
Besides, it can make you dizzy.

People who live in New York take these things and many more for granted, and most
of them assume that their behavior isn't just specific to a certain area but is a
general rule of thumb everywhere.

Newbie or Not Newbie

If you are an Internet dweller (someone who spends more time in front of a
computer terminal than sleeping), the rules and behavior concerning the Internet
seem quite natural to you. So when another dweller does something wrong, it
sticks out like a raw, festering sore.

Some of this behavior "code" is pretty darn silly, but over the past 10 years or
so it has evolved into an accepted set of guidelines. Those who violate that code
are considered to be "newbies" (individuals who are new to Internet practices and
etiquette--Internet "tourists"), regardless of how long they've been on the
Internet. Newbies get little respect overall, and if you do a newbie-like thing,
you'll be considered a newbie for a long time to come.

Lurk Before You Leap

You'll be in pretty good shape if you follow the guidelines in this chapter, but
also be sure to spend time "hanging out" on the Internet--reading mail,
newsgroups, Web sites, etc.--before sending anyone mail. The longer you lurk, as
the practice of reading without writing is called, the less chance you'll have of
making a newbie-like error.

You don't need to lurk forever; just lurk long enough to get a feel for the area
of the Internet you're exploring. The most important thing to do when lurking is
to look for FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), compendiums of information that a
newbie would typically ask on a certain subject. FAQs are maintained and updated
by good-hearted souls who usually want nothing more than to not be bothered by
the same questions again and again. And again.

What're You Scared Of?

Aside from being regarded as a newbie, you could also incur the wrath of old-time
Internet dwellers (Internet users who have been Netting more than three months).
The penalty? Flames. Just typing that word sends shivers up my spine.

A flame is a derogatory piece of e-mail (or a post in a newsgroup) that tears an
individual apart. The most common recipients of flames are those Internet users
who don't follow the Laws of Netiquette. Many flames are well worded, Don
Rickles-style insults that poke fun first at the offender's intelligence, and
second at his or her Internet knowledge. Some flamers will use profanity to
clarify their point of view, while others stoop to juvenile cracks about the
offender's mother, etc.

While a single flame is enough to send you into a bout of depression, hundreds of
flames might just force you to change your e-mail address. Realistically
speaking, you need to do something really wrong or get the "wrong"æperson mad at
you in order to receive boatloads of flames. Typical newbie mistakes won't get
you this type of uncontrolled response, though I wouldn't want to risk it.

Accepted Rules of Conduct

There is no one particular place you can go to find the rules of Netiquette on
the Internet. Instead, there are various FAQs and posts that address the topic.
Some rules, however, are generally accepted and regarded as law by the citizens
of the Internet, so you should abide by them whenever possible. These rules are
as follows:

Don't ramble. Rambling about nothing in particular is annoying in most forms of
communication, but in e-mail it's unbearable. Be as brief as possible without
losing the content or proper tone of your message (messages that are too brief
can seem curt or angry).

Don't rip on other people. Verbal communication has corrupted some of us. If
you'd whisper something nasty about someone, you wouldn't think anyone could
overhear, but sometimes they do. The same thing goes for e-mail. In fact, because
e-mail can so easily end up in the wrong hands, a nasty e-mail message is more
likely to "get back" to its subject than a whispered comment.

Respond promptly. Letting unanswered e-mail sit around doesn't benefit anyone. If
you don't have an answer or reply for the sender yet, send an e-mail saying so.

Never e-mail something you wouldn't say in person. If you wouldn't say something
to a person's face, don't say it via e-mail. First, it's a cop-out for physical
confrontation, and second, that person has feelings, too.

Make sure the subject line really defines the content of your message. Nothing is
more annoying than getting mail with a subject line called "Your Job Application
Approval," and finding that it contains a Christmas greeting. If you have to send
mail about miscellaneous things, make the subject line reflect that.

Re-read your message before pressing Send. Ninety percent of e-mail Netiquette
no-no's result from the sender's failure to read the message after it's been
written but before it's been sent. Reviewing your message after you've finished
writing it will not only help you catch grammar and spelling errors, but will
give you a glimpse of how your message will be read and understood by the reader.

Never send e-mail that you've received to someone else (unless you have
permission). Let's say your friends Ken and Fred are online and you correspond
with both of them. Don't send e-mail to Fred that Ken sent to you. Fred will
think that he can't trust you with e-mail, and will be much less forthcoming in
his future electronic correspondence with you. After all, what's to stop him from
suspecting that you'll send those messages on to Ken? Then again, Ken and Fred
might be forwarding your mail to each other....

Your words are a reflection on you. Once again, don't assume that the recipient
is the only person who will ever see your message.

Treat everyone on the Internet as a human being. There are very few
computer-based automatic messaging systems out there, and in all likelihood any
e-mail that you send will eventually be read by a human somewhere. Even if you've
never met someone face-to-face, remember that that person deserves to be treated
with respect.

Don't use ALL CAPS. Internet dwellers call all caps "shouting," but to me it's
just hard to read. Using all caps is probably the easiest way to get instant
flames.

When replying, include a bit of the original message. Sending a message back to
someone that consists of "No, I don't think so" can be just a bit confusing. This
problem is even worse if you haven't replied immediately to the message in
question.

Check e-mail at least once a day. I check my e-mail about four times a day while
I'm working, and at least once a day when I'm not.

Don't make signatures longer than the content of the 

e-mail. If your message consists of one line, don't include a 10-line signature,
no matter how cute it is.

Treat spoilers correctly. A "spoiler" is communication your recipient may not
want to read because it divulges information the person might want to find out
for himself or herself. For instance, be careful e-mailing comments about a movie
you've seen unless you're positive your recipient has also seen it. Otherwise he
or she might not want to know all about it. 

If you want to send spoiler information, include a line that reads "Spoiler Info
Below," and then insert about 20 hard returns so that the information is hidden
down below the current screen. That way the recipient can read the information if
he or she wants, but won't accidentally stumble upon it, finding out something
like that in Jurassic Park, the dinosaurs did it.

Make sure your From line is correct. If your e-mail software lets you customize
your From line, make sure it is totally correct, so that replies reach you. If
you don't want replies to go to the address in the From line, make sure you
indicate clearly where replies should go.

Don't enclose large files with your e-mail unless the recipient is expecting
them. Many e-mail systems allocate a certain fixed amount of disk space for each
user's incoming files and messages. When that amount overflows, either old files
are deleted or the user is charged for the used disk space.

Don't assume the sex of the recipient. Because the majority of e-mail names
consists of a first letter and a last name, it is often impossible to know your
recipient's gender.

Don't forward received e-mail to newsgroups, mailing lists or other publicly
accessible areas. This is for the most part a matter of common courtesy.

Avoid profanity and sexual innuendo. Nobody likes a sewer-mouth, especially from
someone he or she has never met in person.

Moving On

All this stuff about correct and proper e-mail behavior is very constricting. So
now that we've discussed some of the things that you can't (or at least
shouldn't) do, in the next chapter we'll talk about how you can use e-mail to
express yourself in many different and totally acceptable ways.