Community Newsletter: Q&A: Share with us some of your e-mailing etiquette
- 11/2/07 9:51 AM
E-Mail Ettiquette :Never send bulk emails with visible
by Ladymaggic - 10/26/07 5:49 PM In reply to: Share with us some of your e-mailing etiquette by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Never, Never, Never send bulk emails with email addresses with visible email addresses...
When I wanted to contact my whole Department, I simply copied the entire list of email addresses, and pasted onto my Bcc...and sent it off. It is that easy for spammers to find email addresses to add to the spam...How rude to diaplay my email everywhere, when I am already fighting spam along with my servers!
Simply add the addresses to Bcc for bulk mailing, and they are not openly visible to everybody...and I really thought everybody knows that, but they don't.
I also balk when I get an email that has already been sent to 99 other people..99 times, as the attachments are all there in a long row with their lists of receivers and senders... Sigh!!
Never, Never, Never send on emails with attachments that promise instant death, bad luck or anything even slightly negative or abrasive...to anyone. Why people write an interesting joke, then add some trailer like 'Pleeze..do not break this chain that has gone to 1,995 countries and planets. If you do, it will bring eternal damnation on your whole fishtank, and turn the waters of your next swimming pool into a permanent quagmire'
Never, Never, Never send on anything that asks for money or breathes guilt into the receiver.
These are my Three Nevers.....I am sure readers will add more...
.......Now, make a copy of this and email it to everyone you know, and ask them to email it back to you too...so you can resend it , etc etc..etc..
Never give anyone's email address without their permission
by pvandck - 11/2/07 4:21 PM In reply to: E-Mail Ettiquette :Never send bulk emails with visible by LadymaggicI agree 100% about round robin emails (bulk emails). I have received private emails from friends with more than 100 email addresses for all to see - and none of them known by me. Apart from the waste of paper and ink in order to print an email, which I sometimes do, there is the security and spam issue. The trouble is, so many email users don't know about blind carbon copies (bcc) or what the bcc section is for. So they never use it. Whenever I've pointed this out to anyone I am greeted with surprise and even accusations of being paranoid. Instead I should be grateful that my email address is sitting on who knows how many viru- or spyware-infected computers, without my permission.
Another thing to NEVER do is leave an email heading blank. Blank headings always go to the junk bin on our computers, as do weird email addresses that look like porn spam.
BBC??????????????
by grandmaperson - 11/2/07 5:48 PM In reply to: Never give anyone's email address without their permission by pvandckI would love not to include everyone's e-mail addresses, but what is a BBC & just how do I do this? It has been mentioned that people look surprised--I am--and I have absolutely no idea at all just how to manage this--never heard of it. If you can tell me how, I will be certain to pass it on to all my friends. Thanks!!! Susan
(NT) BBC??????????????
by DIMrBobSir - 11/2/07 6:21 PM In reply to: BBC?????????????? by grandmapersonMany, if not most, e-mail software have a seperate address line for BCC. However, others like Juno and I'm guessing Netzero don't.
To BCC when using Juno, put parenthesis () around the addresses in the CC box. It's as simple as that.
Email Etiquette
by Cheza1 - 11/7/07 4:39 AM In reply to: (NT) BBC?????????????? by DIMrBobSirIn dealing with forward emails, spam, etc I take the liberty to send those I'm familar with the following:
A friend who is a computer expert received the following directly from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails. Please read, even if you're sure you already follow proper procedures ……….
Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT.
Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it? Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every E-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps:
(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.
(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: fields for adding e-mail addresses. Always use the BCC: (blind carbon copy) field for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it.
(3) Remove any "FW :" in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.
(4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading. Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what you sent.
(5) Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition. (actually, if you think about it, who's supposed to send the petition in to whatever cause it supports? And don't believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, it just ain't so!)
One of the main ones I hate is the ones that say that something like, "Send this email to 10 people and you'll see something great run across your screen." Or sometimes they'll just tease you by saying 'something really cute will happen.' IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!!!! (Trust me, I'm still seeing some of the same ones that I waited on 10 years ago!)
I don't let the bad luck ones scare me either, they get trashed. (could be why I haven't won the lottery..)
Before you forward an 'Amber Alert', or a 'Virus Alert', or some of the other ones floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. Most of them are junk mail that's been circling the net for YEARS!
Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out a Snopes. Just go to www.snopes.com It's really easy to find out if it's real or not. If it's not, please don't pass it on.
So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses.
It’s also about privacy. Not everyone likes to have their personal email address made known to the cyber world, via forward emails. So let’s all be a little more sensitive to this.
Finally, here's an idea!!! Let's send this to everyone we know (but strip my address off first, please). This is something that SHOULD be forwarded.
BCC stands for blind copy. Meaning you can send e-mails to other people without the original/main addressee knowing you did.
V
Bcc; field
by Don Shalom - 11/3/07 8:27 AM In reply to: BBC?????????????? by grandmapersonTo grandmaperson, simply send a test email to someone and copy your own address in the Bcc; field, you will find a copy of the email will arrive in your own IN box but the Bcc; field will be blank. That's how it works. Don S
How to use BCC and clean an e-mail
by alijonsa - 11/3/07 10:04 AM In reply to: BBC?????????????? by grandmaperson(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message. That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message.
Better yet, never click "Forward", instead Copy the body of the e-mail and paste it to a brand new e-mail.
If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.
(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: columns for adding e-mail address.
Always use the BCC: (blind carbon copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses.
This is the way that people you send to only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear.
Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy.
Also a special note for hotmail users you can email to yourself and blind copy to everyone else as hotmail wont let you blind copy everyone.
When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it. Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry listname and email address on a petition.
So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses.
Finally, here's an idea!!! Let's send this to everyone we know (but strip my address off first). This is something that SHOULD be forwarded.
Hope you find the above info useful and helpful and let's stamp out spam!!!
BCC postings
by kcbttns - 11/3/07 10:44 AM In reply to: BBC?????????????? by grandmapersonAt the top of your e-mail form, in the place where you put the address to send the e-mail to, there should be 3 lines...one says "send to", the next one down says "CC". Sometimes the third one is hidden, but if you click on the "Send to" button it will appear as "BCC", which means "blind carbon copy" What it means is that when someone receives this e-mail, the only address they will see in the "to" spot is their own, none of the others.
Undisclosed Recipients
by flightwave - 11/2/07 4:39 PM In reply to: E-Mail Ettiquette :Never send bulk emails with visible by LadymaggicI belong to several animal rights organizations and get many e-mails. The senders always leave the "To" section blank and BCC's to members. On receiving the e-mail, it shows "Undisclosed Recipient". This makes sense.
On forwarding e-mails, it is open to common sense. One would (should)not forward junk mail to anyone else but if you think it would be of interest to third parties, then select them accordingly.
One thing that really annoys me is receiving an e-mail that isn't signed. This is even more annoying when it's someone you know. Many people don't realize how rude this is. Would you send a regular letter without signing it? The same rule applies to sending an e-mail. All e-mails require a salutation and closure.
It also amazes me how many people don't bother to do a spell check. This is another e-mail faux pas.
Re:- Undisclosed Recipients
by alijonsa - 11/4/07 1:18 AM In reply to: Undisclosed Recipients by flightwaveI always "sign" my e-mails, as you will see I even do this when I reply to the discussions here in the forums. As for the spell check I always make use of it. My spelling is not of the best after all I am Afrikaans speaking!! But here in the forums there is no "Spell Check" so I keep checking my spelling and hope for the best.
Alijonsa (South Africa)
e mailettiquette
by catlady9tails - 11/3/07 12:00 PM In reply to: E-Mail Ettiquette :Never send bulk emails with visible by LadymaggicI always clear out any addresses before forwording and I put my name in To and every body else in BBC. Also if I can't get all the e mail addresses off. I highlight the message and copy and send, that way no one else can see other addresses. I wish others would learn this too . Catlady
My thoughts
by MarkFlax - 10/27/07 2:16 AM
In reply to: Share with us some of your e-mailing etiquette by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A few replies here, but so far none have considered both the questions Gordon has raised. I thought I would "jump in" and give my own thoughts.
Gordon asked, if we receive an email from a person who has also sent it to multiple other addresses in the To: or CC: field, should the sender expect that the email be treated as "private", and any reply restricted to the sender only and not the other email recipients? For example;
John sends me an email in which he says that Fred is a liar. He has also sent this email by To: or CC: to 10 other people. I know that in this instance Fred has not lied, so I reply to John and send the same email by To: or CC: to the other 10 recipients.
Is this allowed? Is it permitted? Is it against email etiquette?
In this example I believe John is incorrect. However my response is, I feel, dependent on two factors;
1] Email is not like normal letters in this type of case. A letter is, by it's very nature, private and personal, where two people are conversing by the written word between each other. It is like two people talking to each other privately in a room. Whereas one person may not agree with the other, he would not go out into a crowded room and shout at the top of his voice about his disagreement with that other person.
{A caveat. If John says to me privately in a letter or in conversation in a room that he intends to commit some illegal act or horrendous crime, and will not respond to reason, then perhaps I should tell to others, against his wishes}.
But email has this often used facility of being able to be sent to multiple recipients. Therefore, any such email is not, in my opinion, private. John has made his feelings and thoughts public between myself and 10 other people and by that very act he has opened the subject up for discussion between all of us.
2] Fact or Fiction? Hurtful or just fun? Just a comment, or something that demands a reply?
This second factor is more difficult. Natural justice may come in to play here, as well as common decency. Is what John saying factually correct? If not, is it something that could cause harm, (eg to the person that John is talking about)?
So, if John sends me an email saying he thinks Fred is putting on too much weight, I have to consider if that is true, and also if that comment may be hurtful to Fred. It may be true, but it may also be that this has been discussed with Fred before and he knows all about it.
However, if John emails me to say that he disagrees with the President and thinks he, (the President), is a jackass, then is this fact or fiction, is it hurtful or just fun? Or is it just a comment? If I am a staunch supporter of the President I might take issue, but would I carry the argument back to John through all the other 10 recipients? I might dislike the President myself and agree with John, but would I send my agreement back to John and all the other recipients?
Natural justice may apply because of the intention of the original email. If John says something against Fred that is blatantly untrue in the hope that Fred suffers in some way, then natural justice might demand that a proper response be made public.
The answer to the original question is not, therefore, clear cut. But those are the factors I would consider.
Gordon also asked, should I be offended if someone has included my e-mail address in a 'to:' or 'cc:' line of an email when not all recipients know each other?
Difficult. I would say the strict answer is, yes you should be concerned, but not offended. Concerned because of the risk of having your personal details given out, (ie your email address), but not offended because such emails are not meant to cause offense. If they do, then the considerations above would apply.
The risk however is slight. I often receive emails where my and other people's email address are displayed in the To: or CC: fields, but as I take action against spam I have never knowingly suffered because of this.
The offense is, in my view, non-existent, because the sender is sharing something with me, and with other people. This again is where email is different to letters in that it has this unique facility. If I didn't want to receive these emails then I would tell the sender to take me out of his loop.
I hope that helps.
Mark
Change color when cutting and pasting
by Tajmari - 11/2/07 5:54 PM In reply to: My thoughts by MarkFlax
I have had a boss take a draft email I wrote (to make life easier for him) that had been forwarded from me to his boss and then on to him, and then use it as if he was "replying," but instead he erased my address and put in the intended recipient's address. This boss also added some new wording. Well, my orginal draft showed up in blue Arial typeface per our Outlook "reply" standard, and his new wording showed up in black Times New Roman.
I know this because he forwarded the recipient's reply to me.
I think it looked incredibly bumbling, and totally as if he'd had a secretary write his email for him. All he had to do was "select all" and change the typeface and color before sending it out, and it would have looked like he'd composed the whole thing himself.
Taj
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