Better online communication part 2
Email has been around for three times as long as the Web, so we've found out a lot of uses (and abuses) for it since then.
Thus below is the second article in our series on email, and it contains four more must-knows.
5) When replying to something important or complex, quote the original email in your reply.
Have you ever picked up an old letter from a friend and wished to God you'd photocopied the original you sent, so you could remember what you said? This is your answer.
Some feel it is a matter of taste, but to net veterans, "include original message in reply" is an essential feature of their email program. Essential for several reasons; the most notable being that you don't have to cross-reference different emails when later analysing a conversation. Also, this include feature saves time flicking back and forth between messages to make sure you've covered everything your correspondant needed to know (or, more often than not, things that they didn't really need to know, but you thought you'd tell them anyway.)
In days of old, previous correspondence was indicated at the beggining of each line, by a "greater than" symbol, eg:
>what you said to me first
what I am saying by way of reply
and these built up when forwarded, so you could see how the conversation was evolving:
>>>what you said to me first
>>what I said by way of reply
>what you then said to me
what I am saying now
Some people find this difficult to read, but once you've figured it out, it makes detailed correspondence much easier. If you're sent an email using this schema, the politest way to continue the conversation is to respond in kind.
6) Best foot forward.
Email is the only medium that allows you to copy messages to possibly thousands of people by twitching a few muscles.
If all tools amplify our power, then email cranks up the volume to 11. (For those of you who haven't seen Spinal Tap, that means "pushing it off the cliff.")
So be careful with those forwards! If you're not vigilant you can set off streams of data worthy of a chaos theory apocryphal tale. (Email fluttering in Brazil sets off nuclear emergency in Latvia.) If you recieve a chain letter, petition or virus warning, it's important to check it's authentic before mailing it to every poor soul in your address book. This can be very easily done online at sites such as BreakTheChain - maintained by digital saints. Some of these mails are legitimate, but the majority are actually a form of lo-fi virus, childishly engineered specifically to create data traffic jams on the Net.
Spinal Tap - "It goes up to 11"
BreakTheChain
7) Don't say anything I wouldn't say
Something which leads neatly on from this is the inherent paradox of email communication. It can easily lull senders into a false sense of privacy; it feels like you are all alone in a conversation when you read it. And yet sending an email is more like passing a note around your primary school. Everybody knows who it's addressed to, and there's nothing to stop any of your mates having a peek. Worst of all, it's not hard for (oh horror of horrors) Teacher to grab it and read it out in front of everybody.
Remember - just a finger spasm from a bumbling friend or colleague and your email could find itself on the wrong desktop. Or everybody's desktop, for that matter, as Jamie Oliver knows to his cost.
A good rule of thumb: only say things you would be comfortable making front page news, attributed to you. Otherwise, say it face to face.
8) Use receipts in order to see if the recipient has got your mail.
The stalker's favourite; seldom used by technological newcomers and well-hidden by programmers: the receipt option - built into email protocols from the early years - still works. Not all systems can handle it, but it's worth a try. Method of use varies from program to program, even from version to version in certain systems, which shall remain nameless (doncha just love Microsoft?) The only way to find out what to do is to... gasp... look it up in the help file. I know it's a drastic measure, but when you get your first email back from the recipient's mail server telling you your missive has been received and/or opened, the labour will seem worth it.
9) Know when to use CC and BCC
Would you want your friends to post your mail address to all of their friends, and get all of their friends to send it to all of their friends? Not really. Not if you want to keep the junk from your door and the identity thieves away.
So, for the sake of your friends' privacy, use the BCC box rather than the CC box in your email program when you want to send an email to lots of people.
BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. It means that any given recipient is unaware of who else the email was sent to and cannot therefore nick their email address.
CC stands for Carbon Copy. Putting somebody's email address in this box means that other recipients will see who it was sent to. Additionally, if they reply, the person in the CC box will see that reply automatically.
It's not hard to work out which is appropriate to use in which situation. That said, be very careful with CC especially.
Thus below is the second article in our series on email, and it contains four more must-knows.
5) When replying to something important or complex, quote the original email in your reply.
Have you ever picked up an old letter from a friend and wished to God you'd photocopied the original you sent, so you could remember what you said? This is your answer.
Some feel it is a matter of taste, but to net veterans, "include original message in reply" is an essential feature of their email program. Essential for several reasons; the most notable being that you don't have to cross-reference different emails when later analysing a conversation. Also, this include feature saves time flicking back and forth between messages to make sure you've covered everything your correspondant needed to know (or, more often than not, things that they didn't really need to know, but you thought you'd tell them anyway.)
In days of old, previous correspondence was indicated at the beggining of each line, by a "greater than" symbol, eg:
>what you said to me first
what I am saying by way of reply
and these built up when forwarded, so you could see how the conversation was evolving:
>>>what you said to me first
>>what I said by way of reply
>what you then said to me
what I am saying now
Some people find this difficult to read, but once you've figured it out, it makes detailed correspondence much easier. If you're sent an email using this schema, the politest way to continue the conversation is to respond in kind.
6) Best foot forward.
Email is the only medium that allows you to copy messages to possibly thousands of people by twitching a few muscles.
If all tools amplify our power, then email cranks up the volume to 11. (For those of you who haven't seen Spinal Tap, that means "pushing it off the cliff.")
So be careful with those forwards! If you're not vigilant you can set off streams of data worthy of a chaos theory apocryphal tale. (Email fluttering in Brazil sets off nuclear emergency in Latvia.) If you recieve a chain letter, petition or virus warning, it's important to check it's authentic before mailing it to every poor soul in your address book. This can be very easily done online at sites such as BreakTheChain - maintained by digital saints. Some of these mails are legitimate, but the majority are actually a form of lo-fi virus, childishly engineered specifically to create data traffic jams on the Net.
Spinal Tap - "It goes up to 11"
BreakTheChain
7) Don't say anything I wouldn't say
Something which leads neatly on from this is the inherent paradox of email communication. It can easily lull senders into a false sense of privacy; it feels like you are all alone in a conversation when you read it. And yet sending an email is more like passing a note around your primary school. Everybody knows who it's addressed to, and there's nothing to stop any of your mates having a peek. Worst of all, it's not hard for (oh horror of horrors) Teacher to grab it and read it out in front of everybody.
Remember - just a finger spasm from a bumbling friend or colleague and your email could find itself on the wrong desktop. Or everybody's desktop, for that matter, as Jamie Oliver knows to his cost.
A good rule of thumb: only say things you would be comfortable making front page news, attributed to you. Otherwise, say it face to face.
8) Use receipts in order to see if the recipient has got your mail.
The stalker's favourite; seldom used by technological newcomers and well-hidden by programmers: the receipt option - built into email protocols from the early years - still works. Not all systems can handle it, but it's worth a try. Method of use varies from program to program, even from version to version in certain systems, which shall remain nameless (doncha just love Microsoft?) The only way to find out what to do is to... gasp... look it up in the help file. I know it's a drastic measure, but when you get your first email back from the recipient's mail server telling you your missive has been received and/or opened, the labour will seem worth it.
9) Know when to use CC and BCC
Would you want your friends to post your mail address to all of their friends, and get all of their friends to send it to all of their friends? Not really. Not if you want to keep the junk from your door and the identity thieves away.
So, for the sake of your friends' privacy, use the BCC box rather than the CC box in your email program when you want to send an email to lots of people.
BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. It means that any given recipient is unaware of who else the email was sent to and cannot therefore nick their email address.
CC stands for Carbon Copy. Putting somebody's email address in this box means that other recipients will see who it was sent to. Additionally, if they reply, the person in the CC box will see that reply automatically.
It's not hard to work out which is appropriate to use in which situation. That said, be very careful with CC especially.
posted by rechord at
2:32 pm
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