Here are the online basics you need to minimally become familiar with in order to be taken seriously in your online communications.
Do not type in all caps. This is considered yelling or screaming online. Those who type in caps are perceived as lazy and not being considerate of those they communicate with who will have to read their email. Study after study reflects that typing in all caps is difficult to read. And for those who question "What studies?" here is one example for your reading pleasure:
http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~muter/pmuter1.htm
Searching for words is faster with uppercase characters, but reading of continuous text is slower (Vartabedian, 1971), perhaps because interline masking is greater with uppercase (Nes, 1986). In addition, lowercase enhances reading efficiency because word shape is helpful in word recognition (Rudnicky & Kolers, 1984).
One is free to review the entire document above at their convenience that goes into extreme details about how eyes react to what they have to read.
Stating certain professions are required to type in all caps (That's the first time I've heard that one!) doesn't jive either. Would you send any off line communications in all caps - the answer is no.
Refrain from formatting your email with colored text and background colors/images in your day to day communications. If I had $1 for every Netizen who emailed me griping about how they cannot read emails that are formatted apparently by those who have no color sense or command of HTML, I could retire. Your color and formatting choices can make your emails impossible to read and reply to without having to go through a procedure to convert them to plain text. And many times when folks go to reply they have to deal with your formatting carrying over to their reply - what a PIA! Why would you expect folks to have to go through that just to read and respond to your email? The answer: They won't! Using large background graphics that take forever to download, especially if you have a phone connection (which is more common than most think once you get outside of metro areas) is plain old inconsiderate. If you do feel the uncontrollable need to use any type of formatting in your daily communications, do so sparingly. Please, on behalf of all those who email me, just send your email in plain text!
On those rare occasions where sending a group of people the very same email is necessary, as a courtesy to those you are sending to, please list all of the recipients email addresses in the BCC field. (Blind Carbon Copy - from the old days when typewriters used carbon paper to create identical copies of a document when it was being typed.) When an email address is designated in the Blind Carbon Copy field, the recipient will get a copy of the email while their email address remains invisible to the other recipients of the email - some of whom they may or may not know. If you are not sure how to BCC in your email program, here are site resources that may help you learn the features of your software programs:
EUDORA NETSCAPE OUTLOOK EXPRESS
Long lists of email addresses at the beginning of any email is an immediate sign that the sender is either a novice/Newbie - or doesn't care to respect other's privacy. None of which are complimentary perceptions! Email addresses are like phone numbers. Only the owner of the email address or phone number is the one to authorize whom they want to have it and make it public. Many folks prefer to decide themselves who has their email address. By sending mass mails to a list of folks, you have made that decision for them - and that is bad, very bad. Let those you correspond with determine for themselves who they will make their email address known to - do not make that decision for them! By listing handfuls of email addresses in the email headers for all to see is inconsiderate of each recipient's right to privacy.
If you are new online, raise your right hand and repeat after me:
"I will not forward any dumb joke, "chain letter" or unimportant emails to my friends without their permission."
"I will not forward any dumb joke, "chain letter" or unimportant emails to my friends without their permission."
"I understand that by doing so I may fill up their in box, use others resources unnecessarily and may cause other important email to bounce."
"I understand that by doing so I may fill up their in box, use others resources unnecessarily and may cause other important email to bounce."
"I understand that most folks have seen those emails a million times and find them very annoying."
"I understand that most folks have seen those emails a million times and find them very annoying."
"I know that by forwarding these so-called humorous emails I may offend or tick off people who do not share my sense of humor or who are sick of having those stupid emails forwarded to them each time a Newbie hops online."
"I know that by forwarding these so-called humorous emails I may offend or tick off people who do not share my sense of humor or who are sick of having those stupid emails forwarded to them each time a Newbie hops online."
There! Now, that wasn't too bad was it? ;-) You will no longer be tempted to forward those jokes or frivolous email that instruct you to forward to your friends! And, you will avoid looking silly and uninformed in the process. Read them if you must then hit delete. You don't believe those email that state certain things will happen simply by you forwarding the email to 10 friends do you? Talk about a waste of resources!! If you don't know for a FACT that the email you are forwarding is specifically apropos to the person you are forwarding to and you know they will want to receive it - ask first. One of the common requests I receive through this site is from folks wanting to know a "nice way" of telling someone they care about to stop sending joke and chain emails without hurting their feelings. Speaking for those who know you, we have seen those emails before, many times - cut us a break!
Never give out phone numbers or personal information without confirming you are communicating with a reputable party. Never give out personal contact information of others without their specific permission to do so.
Make a reasonable effort to search a Web site for the information you are looking for - "Frequently Asked Questions" or "About Us" sections may give you the answers you seek before you waste the site owner's time by emailing for information that is readily available on their site. I get emailed daily for answers that are easily found in my 10 Courtesies or in the Internet 101 section if someone were to make minimal effort. They simply don't want to take the time to read them so these folks expect me to take the time to repeat what is on my site. I even have a Google Search toolbar right there - they still don't use it! Talk about giving the perception of lazy and not respecting other's time! If a Web site owner takes the time to provide information, read it. No one person's time is more important than another's and common courtesy includes respecting this fact. If you do not find what you are looking for, search for the appropriate contact area for your question. Do not just click on the first email link you come across and blurt out your question(s). Do not be surprised if your email goes unanswered when the information is easily found on their site. It is important to understand the focus of each Web site as well. Each site cannot be everything to everyone or be what you perceive it should be. Be sure to review the information provided to double check that what you seek would even be covered by the site you are at.
Do not use Return Receipt Request (RR) for each and every personal email you send because you like "knowing" when someone opens the email you sent to them. Not only is this a pain for the recipient, this feature is annoying and intrusive! How would you like it if every time you heard a voice mail, answering machine message, opened a postal letter from a friend it was immediately reported back to them that you had heard/opened their communications? The recipient should have the privacy to determine when/if they want to reply - period. RRs should be reserved for those instances where it is critical to knowing the email was opened. Such instances would include legal and important business issues. Keep in mind opened doesn't mean read!
Understand that you will be on a continual learning curve. All of us are. This gig is changing constantly - the only consistency is change! If you do not have the desire to learn, and do not make the effort to understand the "culture" of the technology in which you are participating, you will not be taken seriously by fellow Netizens. You also may get some curt emails from other Netizens pointing such issues out to you - some may not be as nice as others. Do not fire back at them! Use situations like that as an opportunity to learn what you are doing wrong so you do not tick-off others.
If you receive a nasty email - do not respond immediately - if at all. People are very bold and overly critical on the other side of this screen. In my experience they tend to not hesitate to point out things they think you need improvement on while not even noticing the good or positive points on the very same issue. Many times these folks are simply trying to get a rise out of you (this is called trolling) all to make themselves feel self-important. Many times they are just plain jerks. If you do not have something nice to say, or at the very least sternly professional - just hit delete.
Keep in mind that all private email is considered to be copyrighted by the original author. If you post private email to a public list or board, or forward it to an outside party in whole or in part, you must include the author's permission to post the material publicly. Not doing so can get you into some deep doo-doo legally or with your friends and associates. Think of it this way... how would you feel if a personal private email that you had written for a specific purpose/person is then plastered across the Internet or forwarded to folks you do not know? Ask permission before forwarding/posting any private emails!
Always minimize, compress or "zip" large files before sending. Many folks new to the online world do not realize how large documents, graphics or photo files are. Guess what? They are large enough to fill someone's email box and cause their other mail to bounce! Get in the habit of compressing anything over 100,000 bytes. (You can view file sizes in Windows Explorer. Simply right click on the file name and choose properties.) Check out "JustZIPit"
http://free-backup-software.net for these purposes. Do not send unannounced large attachments to others because you think that photo or file is cute or cool or neat. Even when sending business files, always compress and ask permission first!
Many onliners still have to wait up to 30 minutes or more to open overly large files due to their connection speed. Most folks not far outside of metro areas do not have cable or DSL connections, they are on dial-ups - many only @ 28.8K! My home smack dab in the middle of Chicago and Milwaukee only has dial-ups available and 28.8K is considered a bonus over the usual 26.4K due to the older rural infrastructure. If you do not want to compress the files or learn how to make them smaller with graphic software to minimize them to no larger than 600 pixels in width - nothing need be larger than that size to view. Or you could be really courteous and learn how to use the free Web space offered by your ISP to upload photos and simply send the link to friends and family to view. If you do not know how to do this - learn! [Great Resource: HTML Writers Guild and HTML Programming Cheat Sheets]
To send large files that take a long time to download that may not respect the other person's time, reflect their sense of humor, point of view or may even max out their email box is pretty inconsiderate and lazy.
Do not forward virus warnings! Forwarding of virus warnings from friends are generally always hoaxes [Great Resource: Symantec's Virus Hoax Page] - especially if they tell you to forward to everyone you know. Delete those emails and do not forward them! Definitely ignore those forwarded emails instructing you to delete files on your computer - they could be critical files that your computer needs to operate. Only warn friends if you KNOW you have a virus that you have inadvertently passed on to them. Rely only on your virus software and your software provider's Web site for the real scoop. If you get one of these wacky emails from a friend or associate, go to your virus software provider's site and read what they have to say before you unnecessarily alarm folks, delete files off your hard drive and in the process end up looking rather silly to say the least. There are many urban legends purely in existence to watch all the Newbies screw up their computer's config files or forward to everyone they know and end up looking rather foolish in the process. There's a Newbie born every minute! ;-)
With the advancement of technology, it is now possible to get a virus without even opening an email. That ended with W32.Nimda.A@mm in September/2001 that merely required you click on the subject of the email in your email program or for those that use Outlook Express have your program set to preview. HINT: Turn Previewing Off! Nimda also propagated itself by taking advantage of bugs in Microsoft servers to plant itself on the server and then transfer itself to those who visited the Web sites on that server through Internet Explorer (IE is buggy too.).
Several of the latest viruses actually use email addressed farmed out of your address book or In Box to send the virus and propagate itself to all those listed with your name in the FROM: field. Later viruses can send out the virus with your friend's names in the from field! Yikes! The need for a 24/7 real-time virus protection software is no longer a choice - it is your responsibility to remain virus free. You will also need to update your virus files regularly so that your computer is protected from the latest releases. Check out: Norton Internet Security for these purposes.
Basics for virus protection:
Get an active program that is always "ON". This will catch any viruses as they are being downloaded so they can be quarantined and cannot infect your system.
Update your virus patterns daily or every time you log on. These updates can be downloaded from the Web site of your virus software manufacturer. Norton has a scheduler to tell your computer to do this automatically - how convenient! You need to ensure your system is protected from the latest viruses which may have just been discovered since last you were online. New viruses are identified daily!
Never click on any attachment or an .exe (example: Happy99.exe, free stuff, click here or ILOVEYOU) file attached within an email without making sure the attachment has been checked for viruses. Even if the mail appears to come from someone you know very well! They may unknowingly be infected and are not aware of the virus on their system which has just spawned an email that has their name on it and is addressed to you. The email may look like it is from your friend just to get you to open it when in fact it is an email generated by a virus.
As a courtesy to your fellow Netizens, try to learn what this is all about - ignorance is not bliss online.