At Solo-E we have a wide range of experience and comfort using electronic communication. Here are a few widely accepted conventions for politeness.

Most people don’t want their email addresses publicized. If you are sending something to several people on your mailing list, put the addresses in the BCC box instead of the TO box. This will prevent the long list of names at the top of an email that breech privacy.

If you receive a list of such names, DO NOT use it to send unsolicited email to others.

If you are corresponding with a small group of other people and they all need to know each other’s addresses, then the TO box is appropriate.

When you are replying to an email, you can choose whether to reply to just the sender or to all the other recipients of the email. Each different email program has a different way of handling this. Look for “Reply” or “Reply to All,” or their equivalents, and make a deliberate choice.

ALL CAPS is perceived as shouting. Use very sparingly.

If you are sending out an email newsletter or announcement to a list of people, the law requires you to include a way the recipient can inform you to remove his or her name from the list.

If you are tired of receiving a mailing from a reputable source, it is safe to ask to be removed from a mailing list. Large companies do not want to irritate you and will be happy to remove your name — and the process is automatic.

Never reply to SPAM from unknown sources. If you do it simply confirms your existence and you will get more.

If you receive an alarming message with instructions to forward it to your mailing list, DON’T. If you do want to forward it, first check its validity at a hoax checking site such as http://www.truthorfiction.com/ or http://urbanlegends.about.com/

Laurie Weiss, Ph.D., shows you how to communicate skillfully about sensitive subjects in business situations. Http://www.DareToSayIt.com/blog

Last 5 posts by Laurie Weiss

• Fear of Success May Look Like Something Else - November 13th, 2007
• Reacting to Moving Forward - October 30th, 2007

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Email Marketing, Computers/Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.