E-mail List Etiquette Guidelines
Please observe the following guidelines when posting to the ICB's e-mail discussion list.
- Posts cost money and resources.
Always consider that everyone on the list is paying to read what you post. Your post is consuming both network bandwidth and disk space.
- Remember that the person on the other side is human.
Because your interaction with the network is through a computer, it is easy to forget that there are people "out there." Situations arise where emotions erupt into a verbal free-for-all that can hurt feelings.
Please remember that people from all over are reading your words. Do not attack people if you cannot persuade them with your presentation of the facts. Don't say anything to others that you would not say in person in a room full of people.
- Be careful what you say about others.
Please remember that your posts can travel quite far. You do not necessarily have control as to where your posts can end up. This group quite possibly includes your boss, your friend's boss, your girlfriend's brother's best friend, and one of your father's beer buddies. Information broadcast on the Internet can come back to haunt you or the person you are talking about.
- Your postings reflect upon you; be proud of them.
Most people will know you only by what you say and how well you say it. They may someday be your co-workers or friends. Take some time to make sure each posting will not embarrass you later. Minimize spelling errors and make sure that your articles are easy to read and understand.
- Be careful when using humor and sarcasm.
Without the voice inflections and body language of personal communications, it is easy to misinterpret a remark that was meant to be funny. Subtle humor tends to get lost, so take steps to make sure that people realize you are trying to be funny. Emoticons, or symbols that represent emotions such as smiles :-) are often used on the Internet. Emoticons are often used to point out sections with humorous intent. No matter how broad the humor or satire, it is safer to remind people that you are being funny.
- Be brief.
Express yourself succinctly; your words will have greater impact. The longer you make your article, the fewer people will bother to read it.
- Include a short signature.
You may include a "signature" at the bottom of your posts in which your name and e-mail address appear. Signatures should be relatively short, preferably no more than four lines. It's considered ridiculous when the signature is longer than the message or especially the header.
- Don't use CAPITAL LETTERS.
Don't post in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. All caps are difficult to read and are the electronic equivalent of shouting. Instead of underling, use _underscores_ and instead of italicizing, use *asterisks*. Reconsider your emphasis marks before adding them—they can be misinterpreted as angry remarks.
- Line length: Don't send lines longer than 70 characters.
This is a kindness to folks who have terminal-based mail editors. Most people read mail with clients that display 80 characters wide; it's uncomfortable reading wrapped lines.
- White space is not wasted space.
White space—the empty space around text—greatly improves clarity. A blank line only adds a byte to the article length, so don't be stingy if it will help make your meaning clearer.
- Check spelling before posting.
Obvious misspellings are jarring and distract the reader. Every news-posting program allows you to edit your article before posting, and most systems have some kind of spelling checker that you can use on your article.
- Use subject lines carefully.
How much time have you wasted reading articles with a misleading subject line? Make the "Subject:" section of the header as concise and descriptive as possible.
- Denote replies.
Whenever you reply, make sure your subject reflects that you're replying. Either prefix the subject line with "Re:" or suffix it with "-reply."
- Don't post flames.
"Flames" are messages meant to insult another person, often because the writer thinks he or she is "right." Don't legitimize a flame by responding to it. Silence is the most effective method of letting an author know that his or her words were not appreciated. If you really feel a need to respond, do so by private e-mail instead of through the list. Before replying, though, go to do an errand first, so you can calm down, then reply constructively instead of angrily.
If a post breaks these guidelines (and you do not feel personally affronted), give the owner/moderator a reasonable chance to address the issue. If the issue is not addressed, send a private e-mail to the owner/moderator. If the offense was a public post and the resolution requires an apology, the apology should be made on the same list.
- Do not forward personal e-mail.
Never post (in whole or in part) personal e-mail that you have received and forward it to the list. That is considered extremely rude. Keep private e-mail private, just as you would wish others to do for you—unless of course, you have permission from that person.
- Do not post advertisements.
Please don't post advertisements for anything not directly related to the list.
- Do not post chain letters.
Don't post chain letters to the list. Chain letters are large pieces of mail that request you to forward that piece to all your friends get luck, money, or some other ridiculous promise.
- Do not post or attach binary files.
Don't post or attach encoded binary files (such as pictures or software). Whenever possible, put the attachment in your Web tree and have your post point to it. If people are interested, they'll go get it, which is far better than simply ramming it into someone's mailbox.
- Read all follow-ups first; don't repeat hat has already been said.
Before you submit a follow-up to a message, read the rest of the messages to see whether someone has already said what you want to say. If someone has, don't repeat it.
- Use personal mail; don't post a follow-up.
One of the biggest problems on the network is that when someone asks a question, many people send out identical answers. When this happens, dozens of identical answers pour through the Internet. Mail your answer to the writer of the initial post and suggest that they summarize the rest. This way, the Internet will see only a single copy of the answers, no matter how many people answer the question.
If you post a question, remind people to send you the answers by personal mail and offer to summarize the answers to the network.
Make sure you know to whom you are replying. Replies to posts can be sent back to the mailing list/newsgroup by default. If you want your reply to be by private e-mail, make sure you're replying to the desired recipient.
- Do not include the entire article that you are replying.
Quote only relevant portions of the original post. Edit your replies to include enough of the original message to give other readers the context for your message. Don't post "me too" messages unless a vote is explicitly being called for. This is the only major deviation between mail etiquette and news etiquette. Your news message may be sent to thousands of other sites. Most of these sites keep several days to several weeks' worth of old news articles. This means that the article you are replying to is probably available if someone needs to look at it. In particular, "me too" messages—where you quote several dozen lines from someone else's news article and then add a one-line comment at the end—are frowned upon. People will often indicate deletions by inserting: > [text deleted] > [snip, snip] > [omitted for brevity].
Important: Do not quote an entire message just to say some form of "I agree." You can reply privately to the poster that you agree.
- When summarizing, summarize!
When you request information from the network, it is a good idea to report your findings so that others can benefit, too. The method is to take edit all the responses that you received into a single article that is posted to the places where you originally posted your question. Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and write a short summary. Whenever possible, credit the information to the people who sent it to you.
- Be careful about copyrights and licenses.
Once something is posted onto the network, it is probably in the public domain, unless you own the appropriate rights (most notably, if you wrote it yourself) and you post it with a valid copyright notice; a court would have to decide the specifics, and there are arguments for both sides of the issue.
- Cite appropriate references.
If you are using facts to support a cause, state where they came from. Don't use someone else's ideas as your own. You wouldn't want someone else pretending your ideas are theirs; show others the same respect.
- You are broadcasting your mail to anyone and everyone.
There are businesses online whose sole purpose is to archive news and mail. Anything you say in the heat of passion could haunt you in the future.
Thanks for taking the time to read these guidelines. The members of the list appreciate your effort to keep the list a respectful community rather than just a bunch of e-mail messages.
These guidelines are not written in stone; they apply only so long as they have the support of the participants. A vote can be called to add, subtract, or change any of these guidelines at any time, as long as sufficient time is provided to allow people to respond.