STRAIGHT TALK

No offense given, none taken.  The straight up truth from one sister to another on e-mail etiquette.

e-mail has become one of the most versatile forms of communication.  Everyone from 1^st graders to Senior Citizens are using e-mail.  Are we all speaking the same language?  Is there such a thing as do’s and don’ts of e-mail.  Well of course there is.  Here is a modest attempt to clarify some of the e-mail rules that run the internet.

Commonly heard questions regarding e-mail:

Q:  Everything I type is taken the wrong way in my e-mail, how can I make sure I am not offending anyone? 

Answer:  Remember that e-mail is not like telephone conversations where your “tone” is set by your voice.  You have to choose your words carefully otherwise you can be misunderstood by the “tone” of your message.  Re-reading your e-mail is the best way to make sure your meanings are clear.  If in doubt, of sounding rude or unfriendly, don’t send the e-mail.  Better safe than sorry.  You can’t take back a message that has been sent, and worse than that it’s on paper as evidence for all to see. 

Q:  I TYPED AN e-mail TO A CO-WORKER REGARDING A MISTAKE I FOUND IN HIS MEMO.  HE BECAME VERY UPSET WITH ME, TELLING ME MY e-mail WAS RUDE.

Answer:  STOP YELLING AT ME!!!  Ok you get the picture.  If you type your e-mail in all caps you are sending out a strong message…YELLING.  It can be offensive.  You can make sure you aren’t yelling at anyone by making sure the caps lock key on the keyboard is turned off.  You’ll be surprised about how many times e-mail is over looked because it is written in all caps.

Q:  I send jokes to my brother at work, he said he was scared to receive them because of his boss.  Can your Boss read your e-mail at work?

Answer:  Sure your Boss can read your e-mail at work as long as it is the e-mail created by the company for company use.  Not everyone has a computer at home.  That means some people are using their work computers for personal e-mail.  Yeah we are all guilty of this.  The problem is, if you aren’t sure a person can receive jokes, inspirational e-mail, pictures, etc. than you probably shouldn’t send it.  Ask if you can send personal e-mail to the job and how often.  Most people don’t mind if you e-mail them once or twice at work, but if you have a 10 page joke to send, there may be a problem. 

Q:  I usually receive jokes at work, but this one day, I open up an attachment that said “candy”.  As soon as I clicked on the attachment, a co-worker came over to my desk.  We were both appalled (and I embarrassed) when a completely naked man flashed across my computer screen.  How can you prevent this kind of thing from happening?

Answer:  Sounds to me like someone forgot to send what we call the “courtesy subject”.  If the e-mail you are sending is out of the normal realm of descent let them know.  A quick note like “open alone” “ indecent proposal” “nudity” “open with caution” or “not suited for kids” would be a great help.

Q:  I sent an e-mail to a group of people regarding an outing we were all attending.  I must have mistyped a word but it wasn’t a big deal.  One of the recipients of the e-mail, sent an e-mail to everyone on the list telling me about my typo.  How rude is that?

Answer:  That is very rude.  A lot of people confuse the “Reply” with the “Reply All” response.  I have a tendency to questions people’s motives when they hit the Reply all response to criticize or belittle another person.  The rules on this is simple.   Common courtesy folks.  It you need to have a private word with someone, please respond with the “reply” button.  There is nothing worse than an e-mail fight that leaves 20 messages in innocent bystander’s mail boxes.  If you have information for the entire group (and you know all of the people on the reply all list) then use the reply all. 

Q:  I hate scrolling down several pages of “fwd’s” to get to an the original e-mail message.  What is going on?

Answer:  What’s going on?  Well the message has been passed around by several people who don’t know the courtesy associated with forwarding messages.  No one wants to read what “everyone” who saw the e-mail wrote.  Most the time they don’t know those people anyway.  Sometimes it’s easier to copy and paste the body of the e-mail to a new message.  Then you won’t be sending any additional information.

Q:  Can you swear on e-mail?

Answer:  Sure you can.  Question is, do you really want to do that?  e-mail is more relaxed in some ways.  You don’t see your audience.  Certain anxieties about people are gone.  There is no confrontation, except on return mail, but who cares.  If  messages can’t physically hurt you than your in the clear.  Right?  Wrong.  Remember the words you type today will be the same words forwarded tomorrow.  You never know who will end up with your messages.  It could take a day, a month, or a year, but at some point in time, the message you sent can reach someone you know and who is influential I your life.  If you can’t tell someone something to their face, you might want to think twice about sending it e-mail.

All these responses are simply my opinion.  Happy e-mailing to ya!

If you have a question for the Diva, send an e-mail to Robin or DaNelle