| |
- Introduction
- Daily Routines
& Housekeeping
- Subject Lines
- Salutation
- Body Text
- Formatting
- Signature Files
- Attached Files
- Replying
- Forwarding &
Spam
- Remember that...
-
Introduction
- In recent years, members of
staff and students have become increasingly dependent on e-mail
communication to help them with their teaching, study, research,
administration
and any other work that is academically related.
- As with other forms of communication
media, there are widely observed conventions, often known as
‘network etiquette’
or ‘netiquette’ - associated with e-mail
communication. Netiquette is a set of guidelines intended to promote
effective, efficient and responsible communication between all e-mail
users.
- What follows is a set of guidelines derived from
those in use at many locations on the Internet, and which IT Services strongly recommends for all e-mail users
at the University of Malta.
- Daily
Routines & Housekeeping
- Subject
Lines
- Use short meaningful descriptions
in the ‘subject’ field of all your messages.
Messages without subject
lines can confuse and frustrate your recipients particularly if these
receive
a lot of mail.
- Restrict yourself to one subject
per message; sending multiple messages if you have multiple subjects.
This
helps recipients manage the messages they receive by subject.
- Salutation
- The way you start your message is
very much dependent on your relationship between you and your
recipient.
If you normally address a person as Ms/Mr/Dr Borg then that’s
the way you
should address her/him in e-mail. If you normally call them by name
then address them by name. If you are unsure, stick to the formal
salutation.
- Body Text
- Messages should be concise and to
the point. Use short paragraphs with breaks in between. White space
makes long text easier to read.
- Be careful about the way you express
yourself in a message, especially if you feel heated about an issue.
Never
shoot off a quick response to some issue. Once you press the send
button
there is no way you can retrieve the message back.
- Formatting
- Never type your messages in all
uppercase letters. Capitalizing whole words that are not titles is
the equivalent of shouting. Asterisks are usually used to add
*emphasis*
to a word.
- Use plain text for your messages.
Some e-mail programs are unable to handle formatted messages -
different
fonts, sizes, colours, tabs etc.
- When sending a URL in the body of
a message, type it on its own line like this…
http://www.its.um.edu.mt
- Most e-mail client programs can
recognize the URL and will automatically render the text as an active
link
in the body of your message.
- Different regions of the world use
different formats for listing dates: DD-MM-YY or MM-DD-YY.
To avoid
misinterpretation of dates, include spelled out months when listing
dates
– 30 May or May 30.
- Acronyms (e.g. ASAP – as soon as
possible) are often used in e-mail messages. Avoid overuse of acronyms
in your messages. Such messages can confuse and annoy readers that
are not familiar with acronyms.
- Ensure that your message is free
of spelling and grammar errors before pressing the
‘send’ button.
- Signature
Files
- Always include your name at the
bottom of your message.
- Include your signature at the bottom
of your message when communicating with people who may not know you
personally.
Many e-mail programs allow you to set up a default signature to be included
at the end of every message. Your signature file should include:
Name & Surname
Post
Department
Faculty
University address
E-mail address
Telephone
Fax
- It is important to update the signature
file whenever a piece of your contact information changes.
- Attached
Files
- Be careful with file attachments
that you send along with your mail. Large files can completely fill
the recipient’s mailbox making it impossible for him/her to
receive any
more messages. Seek permission from your recipients before actually
sending large mail (>5Mb). Compression utility
programs (available from the IT Services Downloads site) can be used to reduce the
sizes of your attached files.
- Replying
- Do not start a new message when
replying to a mail. The ‘reply’ feature makes it
easier to follow the string
of responses to a single message.
- When replying to a mail, ensure
that the subject field (usually automatically filled when you use the
‘reply’
feature) still accurately reflects the content of your message.
- When you send a reply to an e-mail,
the original message is usually quoted in the body of your reply.
Quotes help you and your recipient manage your e-mail communication.
However, avoid the practice of quoting entire messages particularly if
these are long.
- Forwarding
& Spam
- It is unethical to forward a message
without asking permission of the originator of the message.
- Do not make changes to someone else's
message and pass it on without making it clear where you have made the
changes. This would be misrepresentation.
- Do not initiate or forward chain
letters and other unwanted e-mail, known as ‘spam’,
to any other users. This kind of mail causes various problems,
including delays in the transmission of genuine academically related
e-mail.
Sending virus warnings, whether genuine or not, to
all contacts in your address book is one example of chain mail. Do not
initiate or forward such warnings. Virus warnings should be forwarded
here.
If appropriate, IT Services will issue warnings to all users.
- Use the BCC
- Blind Carbon Copy - function when sending a message to a large group
of contacts especially if the recipients of your mail do not know each
other.
For example, if you are going to advise all your
contacts about a change in your e-mail address or telephone number,
type your e-mail address in the To: field and include all recipients'
e-mail addresses in the BCC field. This will not reveal the e-mail
addresses of the mail recipients.
- Remember
that…
- The forging of e-mail by interfering
with the headers of the original message or by arranging for erroneous
information to appear there (in particular to disguise the true sender
or to masquerade as another user) is explicitly forbidden both in the
context
of actual mail activities and at other times when an e-mail address may
be quoted.
- Use of the IT facilities and
campus network is restricted to academic related purposes.
- Sending e-mail from your IT Services User
account is similar to sending a letter on a University of Malta
letterhead,
so don't say anything that might discredit or bring disrepute to the
University.
More information on e-mail
Last updated: 13-Aug-07
|
