Ms. mannerisms on line;
How to use winkey smileys, ROTELs

You mastered the differences between priority and special delivery mail and moved on to E-mail a long time ago. But that doesn't mean you know -- or always remember to use -- the rules of "Netiquette."

Like Miss Manners and Emily Post before her, there are experts out there who offer guidelines for using E-mail appropriately for a more workable workplace.

Brenda Bailey-Hughes, training consultant in IU Human Resources Management's training and development area, offers a few basic "must know" tips for E-mail communications.

E-mail writing style...

Write informative subject lines of 30 characters or less.

• example: Subject: Need fall '99 class schedule

  Write in a conversational and personable tone.

• err on the side of informal if unsure

• use contractions

• write positively

• use simple, familiar words

• avoid business cliches

• use humor

• write in active voice, which is more direct and vigorous than the passive

  example: "I'll always remember my trip to Boston" is much better than "my trip to Boston will always be remembered by me."

  Be creative in formatting.

• double space between paragraphs

• use bulleted or numbered lists for clarity

• include headers in boxes, all caps or asterisks

• use bold and underline equivalents

• *bold equivalent*

  example: I need the report by Wednesday at the *latest.*

  _underline equivalent_

  example: Read_The Elements of E-mail Style_for additional information.

  Add a signature line.

• include your full name, organization, phone number, address and E-mail address

• learn how to automate this line for your particular system

  Adopt E-mail standards.

• if uncertain about an audience's interest level, limit your message to a one or two line announcement and request that individuals write for more details

• if writing to a stranger, explain in the first few lines how you obtained the e-mail address

• use international dating format = 17 Nov 97 (European) and 97 Nov 17 (Japanese)

  Avoid cultural or regional expressions if posting a message to a national or international list.

  example: "Meeting to be held at Brown Co. at 5:00" -- Is this Brown Co. Park? Is "Brown Co." a county? Is it Brown Co. Indiana? Is it 5 p.m. EST?

  Avoid all caps except in headers as it implies that you are shouting and is difficult to read.

  Avoid using all lower case letters and skipping punctuation marks; it may be easier for you to type but is incredibly distracting and time consuming to your reader.

  Abbreviations - you may see them, but you don't need to use them!

• BTW = by the way

• FYI = for your information

• IMHO = in my humble opinion

• TIA = thanks in advance

• ROTEL = rolling on the floor laughing

• LOL = laughing out loud

• TTFN = ta ta for now

• NRN = no response necessary

  Emoticons -- you may see them, but you don't need to overuse them!

  :-) Your basic smiley; this is used to inflect a sarcastic or joking remark since we can't hear voice inflection over E-mail

  ;-) Winkey smiley; user just made a flirtatious and/or sarcastic remark. A "don't hit me for what I just said" smiley

  :-( Frowning smiley; user did not like that last statement or is upset or depressed about something

  :-I Indifferent smiley; better than a :-( but not as good as a :-)

  :-> User just made a really biting sarcastic remark; worse than a ;-)

  >:-> User just made a really devilish remark

  Parse a sender's message when you reply.

• quote the document to provide context

• at least half of the lines in an E-mail message should be your own

• replace pronouns with explicit references

• example: "Has she reviewed his presentation from the seminar" should be reframed in the response as "Yes, Sharon has reviewed Kurt's presentation from the seminar" to make the identities of those involved clear.

  Use list Netiquette when participating in a group E-mail discussion.

• alphabetize the TO: list for easy scanning

• respond to individuals rather than to the group

• post a summary of responses after posing a question to the group

• never return an entire message with a "me too" reply

• confront newcomers to E-mail (newbies) individually and gently with violations

• increase responses by posting questions which require yes, no or short answers

  Reduce E-mail overload.

• discuss with UITS what filters may be available

• get off of unused lists

• cc and bc cautiously

Find additional smileys:

http://eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_286.html

Meet "Ms. Netiquette" at:

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/index.html

Return to Table of Contents