Person-to-person e-mail, especially when the writers know each other well, is often conducted in a very casual manner. It is rare to receive an informal e-mail that is carefully thought out or laid out, or one in which much thought has been given to spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Plenty of people send newsy e-mails to friends, especially at the holidays, and they almost invariably make use of one of the main advantages of the medium, which is to send the same message to a very large number of people.Though this is the way that many people use e-mail now, there is no reason to assume that this is the only way in which it can ever be used. Because e-mail is a relatively new medium, there is considerable scope for the present generation of writers or users to shape the way in which it will develop as a form of communication. It can be treated as a utilitarian device for a throwaway society, or it can be afforded the same respect as any other type of writing. As noted earlier, people are increasingly using e-mails in place of letters to transact serious business or convey important information. People who use e-mail in this way need to follow the same procedures, observe similar courtesies, and take as much care with matters such as style and tone as do people who write letters or other types of document.Technical matters must be left to one side, as the software supplied by different e-mail service providers offers different facilities and, in any event, is being continually updated. So, the following will deal only with the basics of "netiquette," as applied to e-mail.- Use the subject line to show the content or purpose of your e-mail. This allows the reader to see immediately why he or she is being contacted and, if the e-mail is stored, enables him or her to find it again among a number sent by the same person.
- Only send copies to people who really need them.
- E-mail is informal or "unstuffy" almost by nature, but the normal rule of respecting your readers still applies. If you do not know the recipient, be cautious about how you address him or her. (In other words, if you are e-mailing Dr. Jennifer Weiss for the first time, do not start with "Hi, Jenny" because you think that is the e-mail convention. Even "Hi, Dr. Weiss" sounds too familiar. "Dear Dr. Weiss" or simply "Dr. Weiss" is better.) By all means, however, include an appropriate greeting and close to your e-mail. Finally, do not SHOUT at people (that is, use capital letters), except in jokey e-mails to your friends.
- There is no reason why an e-mail should not be as carefully presented as an ordinary letter: well planned, clearly organized, and properly spelled and punctuated. An e-mail that is not clearly laid out and that does not express its message in a clear and interesting way is less likely to achieve its purpose than one that is. So, do spend some time thinking about and constructing your e-mail. It is usually better to do the work of composition offline so that you are not distracted by other Internet activity going on in the background. And do check and proofread the text after you have written it.
- Keep e-mails relatively short, and pay particular attention to the text first visible on the screen, which is what will persuade the recipient to scroll down further. If you have a lot of material to send, it is often better to put it into a separate file and send that as an attachment to your e-mail.
- Include other contact information, such as your mailing address and phone and fax numbers, with your e-mail signature.
Whatever the means of communication you choose—e-mail or letter—always remember that anything that goes under the heading of mail is directly addressed to another person or other people. In this form perhaps more than in any other, writing is a two-way process. So, here is where you should take everything this book has said in previous chapters about the relationship between writer and reader particularly to heart.
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