My musings on composing emails. This is non technical. I have other pages for that. This is the human side of SMTP.
I used email at university in the 1980's, and have used it almost daily since 1996.
All rules are there to be broken. If they couldn't be broken, they wouldn't be there.
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." ~ Katharine Hepburn.
Keep it short, sweet and simple. Analyse the content.
Remember: your email should have no more than two concepts and five key words.
By concepts I mean:
Never have more than two. Compose and send separate emails if required.
Look at every noun and verb. How many are key?
Realise the guy you're writing is not an idiot - even though they provide a very good emulation of one. He is very busy, and is handling many other queries and problems that you know nothing about.
Focus on what you have to say. If you ramble off topic your reader will loose interest. Loosing focus means you'll break the Two Concepts and Five Key Words rule.
Then make it a report, a separate entity to an email.
Compose it as a Word document attachment, or link to a web page. Your report can have an introduction, a main point or a thesis, evidence and arguments, maybe refined details, then a conclusion.
The subject field serves 2 purposes:
Either make the subject a brief summary - no more than 5 words. Or copy a key sentence from the body of the text.
Never ever flame.
You may have experienced it happening to you - don't do it!
Overcome the temptation to vent your spleen by dashing off some ill-thought rant.
Go through the motions of composing the email - yes. Show a friend in the room what you've typed. (Do this by hauling him over, don't email it to him.)
You are probably angry - explain to yourself why. Is it justified?
Does the person matter? If not then don't bother. Use the "trash can". (Rubbish bin)
Don't reply immediately. Control your rage. Sleep on it: send your reply tomorrow.
When your time comes, and you are explaining all to St Peter, He will not be very happy with you if you've ever flamed.
Get the other party to send you an email, not just "phone up" It will make him think what he has got to say. It may even help him to answer his own question.
If you've got nothing to say, don't say it.
Always run your email through the spell checker. Sending messages with words mispelt will turn off your reader, he will loose interest quickly.
Then check the words that have been corrected. It's too eyes to write complete gibberish.
Use proper English for Brits, and use the American dialect for our friends over the pond.
Don't use "texting", the gibberish all teenagers seem to generate with ease. Such lingo: "CU L8R M8 TTYL"
(TTFN is correct however!)
You've got a keyboard with 104 keys on it. Use them!
not bothering to capitalise text is slovenly. SHOUTING IS RUDE.
Get a book on punctuation. The rules are easy. Its simple to learn! Never over do exclamation marks: they are like you laughing at your own feeble joke!!!!!!!
Get a book on it.
Don't. In a corporate you'll be shown the door. Neither be sexist, heightist, colourist or sizest. That dykey porg, that's as black as the ace of spades, and that you don't get many of those to the pound, should not be referred to as such in your email.
Take care that an email, especially if copied to others, doesn't unintentionally upset. It is very difficult to compose English. Subtle nuances may be missed. Words are cold, hard and impersonal. Something said in jest can too easily be misinterpreted.
Don't try to send sympathies by email. (Delicate and tender sentiments don't carry well over the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.) A phone call, or a personal visit is preferable.
Instant Messenger is fine for casual, temporary messages - arranging meals, pub visits. Never attempt a serious dialogue.
Don't. Most people set their email clients to read text only so your artistic creation will be lost. Does having a green wall paper add to your message? No. It's just trash isn't it? So just get rid of it. Now!
Don't use them. Cheap trashy gimmick. When I receive them I usually swear, then delete the email, not bothering to read it.
We know that women capable of using computers, and some have started to work alongside us men. (It's amazing that they seem to get away with it!)
Being sexually neutral can make reading difficult! Your reader will find you message more understandable if you stick to "he" or to "she".
In a document it is usual to have a statement: '"He" means "He or She"', but an email should be short, and such a statement is clutter.
Remember: never be sexist!
I have never found bad sexist attitudes in any place I've worked. This doesn't mean that it should be ignored. To be sensitive you have to be aware.
Where do you draw lines? Gays and Transsexuals (pre and post re-assigned) we meet are part of our lives. And cats.
Sending an email to everybody in my address book is rare. May be for a change of address. Even then I would blind CC. (BCC) I don't want all my friends and work colleagues to know I correspond with ivor.loco@trainspotting.org
When I "CC" to people I never expect a reply. CCing usually happens in an "arse covering" exercise. The "To" recipient has done something wrong, or is just being stupid, or just not engaged their brain. You have to be see as squeaky clean. Take care, don't flame!