These days, everyone is wired. Unfortunately, just because Great Aunt Mary learned how to send email and surf the web, doesn’t mean she picked up the basics of netiquette along the way.
What’s netiquette, you ask?
Netiquette is the unofficial rules defining proper behavior on the internet–whether sending mail, posting in online communities and message boards, or chatting. For the purpose of this blog, we’ll tackle the basics of email etiquette. We’ll cover more tomorrow.
TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING
Most people don’t appreciate being shouted at. Always use lower case unless you’re trying to show emphasis.
Forwards
If you must pass on the sappy friendship poem, money angel, or political agenda of your favorite politician, be sure your recipient is like minded. Few things are more annoying than being on the receiving end of an endless stream of stuff you’re not interested in. In the last presidential election, it nearly got the front yard of one of my die-hard Democrat friends decorated like a GOP convention.
Forwarding Responsibly
Hate spam mail? So do all your family and friends. But if you forward emails with their names and addresses in the to: box, you’ve just set them up to be harvested by spammers. Take a peek at the latest joke that landed in your inbox. See all those email addresses? Spammers pay money to get lists of valid addresses like that. Use BCC (blind carbon copy) if you forward.
No One is Tracking How Many Times You Send it On
Bill Palmer isn’t giving away $50 gift certificates from Applebee’s if you pass on his email. There are sick children in the world, but the American Cancer Society isn’t donating three cents per forward to pay their medical bills. And no matter how convincing it sounds that mutant midgets with bad teeth are going to skin your favorite pooch and your mother if you don’t forward 10 copies of a chain mail within three minutes of it’s receipt, it’s not happening. Still not convinced? This blog is a chain letter that hereby relieves you of any responsibility of forwarding chain mail. Nothing bad will happen to you as a result. Period.
If it Sounds Legit, visit Snopes.com Anyway
Many official and intelligent sounding messages get forwarded every day that have absolutely no truth to them–particularly in the form of health information or warnings. Snopes is the resource for refuting hoaxes, myths and rumors. Make sure the information you’re passing on is legit. Don’t be a part of the problem.
If You’ve Seen it Before, Everyone Else Has Seen it Too.
Probably more than once. I still get forwards I thought were hilarious the first time I saw them–nearly ten years ago. Just say no to passing it on.
Next- Part II: Be A Good Citizen in Your Online Community