Email etiquette
When writing emails there are a number of things which authors can do to make their correspondence clearer. Users who are relatively new to email often do not realise that over the years some techniques have been developed to make email communication more effective. Many email clients (such as Outlook Express) do not help matters by actively encouraging bad practice, leaving uninformed users ignorant of the better technique.
There are innumerable references on email etiquette, but the key points are:
- be polite, be brief and respect the reader
- always put your reply below the text to which you are replying (in other words, avoid "top-posting"1)
- use standard email/usenet quote marks (">")
- only quote as much text as is required for clarity
- use capital letters sparingly (they can be perceived as SHOUTING).
- avoid sending HTML mail—plain text is universal, HTML is not
- keep paragraphs short and use plenty of white space to separate items
- keep the email's subject the same unless the subject is completely new
Some of the many references on email etiquette are:
- How to keep out of trouble with your e-mail
- Preventing Digital Divides in Email Readability
- How do I quote correctly in Usenet?—Quoting and Answering
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
- Bottom vs. top posting and quotation style on Usenet
1. Top posting:
A: Because it is hard to read.
Q: Why is top-posting annoying?
