10 Simple Rules for E-mail
By Stuart Brown
StudentAffairs.com


Posted: August, 2004     Student Affairs Online, vol. 5 no. 3 - Summer 2004

Electronic mail (e-mail) has become part of our daily communication ritual. Arrive at the office. Sit at the desk. Sip the coffee. Boot up the computer and check the overflowing inbox which, like the hat in the Soccer's Apprentice, never stops refilling. Electronic correspondence is vital to our needs-both work and pleasure-but also produces a level of frustration and irritation. As someone with a multitude of e-mail accounts, who checks them morning, noon and night ("Stu, did you really send me that e-mail at 1:30 a.m.?") I spend a great deal of time reading, answering and deleting. I have also developed a list of e-mail traits that just irk me. I share them, willingly, below:

  1. Who's There - If you're taking the time to write, please include a succinct and descriptive Subject Header. These few words allow me to more easily weed out spam, decide the importance of the message, and whether it's for work or play. Laziness creates more drudgery for moi.
  2. SHOUTING - Unlock the caps lock key! Messages in ALL CAPS is hard on the eyes, adds unnecessary emphasis, and is a cardinal sin of netiquette.
  3. IM Speak - With the widespread use of instant messaging (IM) and chat groups a mutated form of English has evolved. I prefer my English and grammar straight up, not slightly shaken.
  4. Editing Is The Key - Don't just hit the Reply key when answering an e-mail and then start wailing away on the keyboard. Take time to edit. Delete the sender's message (so not to produce an overly long response), or judiciously quote lines from the original message within your answer (so there is a narrative structure to your response). Using the spell check wouldn't hurt either.
  5. Cute Quotes - Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thoreau, Shakespeare, Lao Tzu, Benjamin Franklin, etc., etc., etc. I respect and admire these individuals, but do their quotations, witticisms or profound sayings really need to be appended to every e-mail?
  6. Breaking Up Is Not Hard To Do - Maybe it's me, but I like my e-mails short and to the point. Longer electronic missives need to be broken up into smaller paragraphs, more manageable bites. It helps me concentrate on what the author is stating and doesn't set in motion an itchy delete finger.
  7. Forwarding Jokes - STOP!!
  8. Signature Blocks - Include one with basic contact information. I do still like to occasionally ring someone up, but hate wasting time searching a phone number especially if I have to navigate an unwieldly institutional website.
  9. Instant Gratification - E-mail is an effective communication tool, but just because a message almost instantaneously whizzes across cyberspace does not mean a response will be forthcoming in the same timeframe.
  10. Oversized Graphic Attachments - Yes, I do want to see digital photos of the new house (especially the second floor bathroom vanity), film clips of baby's first steps, and all the other images from your new 4X digital camera. But show restraint with these un-resized, graphic attachments so I can actually open them without waiting more than a nanosecond.

By following these straightforward precepts I'll sleep better... instead of staying up responding to those late-night e-mails.