EMAIL PET PEEVES (First 15)
Readers Respond: What Email Etiquette Hint Do You Wish Others Would Follow?
Responses: 150
By Heinz Tschabitscher , About.com Guide
Tons of addresses in the To: line; no greeting, or words aplenty until the sender gets to the point; forwarded messages that consist of nothing but, well, whatever that is...
What irks you most about email etiquette not followed, or followed too much perhaps?
What email etiquette hint do you most wish others would follow? Share Your Pet Peeve
Bcc
I don't bother to read emails with too many "To:" and Cc:" recipients. This list should include instructions to use "Bcc:" when emailing more than five people, except when it's important for each recipient to know who was sen the message, in which case sometimes making a group of recipients named "Donut Morons" or something will help because only the group name will be in the "To:" or "Cc:" field instead of dozens of recipients. It's occurred to me before that it's important for everyone to have everyone else's email address in an organization without a global address book, but this can be done with a single email for that purpose only every time the list ("Donut Morons") is updated.
—GuestBobtholomew
Too many Questions Marks
When someone ends a question with more than one question mark. Rude!
—GuestDoris Foley
An entire message in the subject line!
Are you kidding me? This is the WORST thing anyone could do! Writing everything in the bloody subject line, leaving the body of the email blank! This not just irks and irritates me, but angers me beyond my limit! Those who don't know how to email should bloody keep their thick heads out of it and stick to pen and paper. Shame on you!
—GuestSam Wise
Responding appropriately
Some of us are the recipients of e-mails from someone with "Reply All-itis". Too, too much information and information being sent is neither helpful nor pertinent to all of us. How do we make it stop?!
—GuestDiane
Receipt Request
My biggest peeve is when certain individuals have a receipt request on every email sent. They feel as if you are infringing on their constitutional rights if you ask them to use it on a needed basis and not as a default.
—GuestGerry - Federal Employee
Salutation on Emails
When you are sending email to co-workers you see every day, I feel a salutation is NOT needed. Everyone I work with writes "Greetings Pat" or "Dear Pat". That is not necessary when forwarding or sending new email to people you know. It's too formal!
—maggie1957
Stationery In The Workplace
Do not use stationery in the workplace. This takes up additional space on the email, is hard to read through, and the cute little foot prints, flowers, designs… have no place in the workplace. Save it for your personal email with friends and family.
—GuestGuest Z08
Political, religious and/or sexual email
People (may even be a spouse) sending me political, religious and/or sexual emails, i.e. forwards, photos, etc. that are not appropriate, and especially if I have written and requested that they stop.
—Guestcager38
What can I do?
A coworker of mine uses email as instant messenger, replies to old emails with a new subject (but does not change the subject line) and often injects comments about her personal life to work emails.
—GuestLostInFL
Greetings and/or sign-offs
Isn't the address and return in the heading enough to know who the recipient and sender are? Why duplicate things?
—rquacke
BCC Si!
And yet another vote for using BCC when you forward things. I don't know everyone in your address book, they don't know me, and I don't necessarily want them to have my email address. Not to mention that if anyone receiving that CC'd email picks up a virus, you've just compromised every single email address on that CC.
—GuestAmy
Privacy!
Don't give out other people's personal email addresses without asking. Ever.
—GuestAmy
Hoax and Jokes
I hate emails about the crazy man trying to harm you and stupid jokes.
—GuestCAR
Emails that disturb and annoy
1) Rude or poor language—even in official mails in corporate—esp many now using SMS type text and often have lost all courtesy. 2) Junk Fwds—sent esp fear to psyche on health matters and fake data. Overall I find about 20% are junk mails inc gross humor fwds
—GuestCaptTRajkumar
Did you pass English?
[One of my pet peeves is] continuous rambling without punctuation. Please read your emails before you send! I also send one question per email; most people don't respond to more than one at a time.
MY THOUGHTS
Recognize any?
Monday, June 6, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
The Kindness of Strangers
Thursday February 3, 2011
Categories: Good Deeds
"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." - Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire
When was the last time someone did something unexpectedly nice for you? Not someone you knew, but a total stranger? All this talk about compassion and the golden rule got me thinking about the kindness of strangers. It's happened to me a few times, but two instances really stand out.
A few years ago, I was dining out with a person who kept going on and on about himself, completely oblivious to the fact that I was sitting there in misery. It wasn't his company that bummed me out. I was recovering from a broken heart, and just sitting down to dinner reminded me of my last relationship. I could have collapsed in tears right there at the table.
When we picked up the check, the waitress said, "Your meal was already paid for." My friend and I didn't have a clue how it happened. Then I remembered a man coming in out of the corner of my eye. He was dressed in mostly white, sat down at the bar, had a shot of gin, stayed for maybe ten minutes, then left. The waitress said, "Yes, the gentleman who was in here a while ago paid for you." True story. It felt like a little nudge from God saying, "I see you, honey. It's gonna be okay."
Just last year, I was running a half-marathon. With just .1 miles to go, I was out of gas. Runners call it "hitting the wall"; I thought I couldn't move another muscle. Out of nowhere, a teenager jogs up next to me and says, "What's your name, sweetie? Jennifer? Okay, Jennifer, let's go! Come on! It's just around the corner! You can do it!" And he ran with me until I picked up my pace. I found him at the finish line to thank him for the encouragement only to learn he wasn't even supposed to be in the race that day. He was running in place of someone else.
I still shake my head when I think of these momentary angels that came to me at my point of need. Do you have any experiences like this? A random act of kindness by a stranger? Share your story.
MY THOUGHTS
got your own story to tell? it certainly feels good when some stranger shows you kindness. but it feels even better when you're that stranger being kind to another human being you don't know. picking-up the cheque might be too much. but we don't need a list of how-to-be-kind. just look around, feel around and rise up to the occasion.
Thursday February 3, 2011
Categories: Good Deeds
"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." - Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire
When was the last time someone did something unexpectedly nice for you? Not someone you knew, but a total stranger? All this talk about compassion and the golden rule got me thinking about the kindness of strangers. It's happened to me a few times, but two instances really stand out.
A few years ago, I was dining out with a person who kept going on and on about himself, completely oblivious to the fact that I was sitting there in misery. It wasn't his company that bummed me out. I was recovering from a broken heart, and just sitting down to dinner reminded me of my last relationship. I could have collapsed in tears right there at the table.
When we picked up the check, the waitress said, "Your meal was already paid for." My friend and I didn't have a clue how it happened. Then I remembered a man coming in out of the corner of my eye. He was dressed in mostly white, sat down at the bar, had a shot of gin, stayed for maybe ten minutes, then left. The waitress said, "Yes, the gentleman who was in here a while ago paid for you." True story. It felt like a little nudge from God saying, "I see you, honey. It's gonna be okay."
Just last year, I was running a half-marathon. With just .1 miles to go, I was out of gas. Runners call it "hitting the wall"; I thought I couldn't move another muscle. Out of nowhere, a teenager jogs up next to me and says, "What's your name, sweetie? Jennifer? Okay, Jennifer, let's go! Come on! It's just around the corner! You can do it!" And he ran with me until I picked up my pace. I found him at the finish line to thank him for the encouragement only to learn he wasn't even supposed to be in the race that day. He was running in place of someone else.
I still shake my head when I think of these momentary angels that came to me at my point of need. Do you have any experiences like this? A random act of kindness by a stranger? Share your story.
MY THOUGHTS
got your own story to tell? it certainly feels good when some stranger shows you kindness. but it feels even better when you're that stranger being kind to another human being you don't know. picking-up the cheque might be too much. but we don't need a list of how-to-be-kind. just look around, feel around and rise up to the occasion.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
important email rules
Top 26 Most Important Rules of Email Etiquette
By Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com Guide
The rules of email etiquette are not "rules" in the sense that I will come after you if you don't follow them. They are guidelines that help avoid mistakes (like offending someone when you don't mean to) and misunderstandings (like being offended when you're not meant to). These core rules of email etiquette help us communicate better via email.
1. Take Another Look Before You Send a Message - Don't send anything you don't want to send.
2. Do Not Default to "Reply All" - "Reply" is good. "Reply to All" is better. Right?
3. Keep Emails Short - Do not intimidate recipients with too much text.
4. Properly Format Your Email Replies, and Be Lazy - Do you think quoting original text in your email replies perfectly is a lot of work? Don't let the '>' intimidate you!
5. Write Perfect Subject Lines - Do you make these mistakes in your email subjects? (The key to getting your messages read is not to be clever.)
6. Clean Up Emails Before Forwarding Them - Forwarding emails is a great way of sharing ideas, but make sure the original idea is not hidden in obfuscation.
7. When in Doubt, Send Plain Text Email, Not HTML - Not everybody can receive your fancily formatted emails. Some may even react furious. To be safe rather than sorry, send plain text emails only when in doubt.
8. Don't Forward Hoaxes - Email hoaxes often contain stories that are intriguing, and sure to irritate. Here's how to spot and stop urban legends.
9. Use Current Antivirus Software, Keep it Up to Date, Scan for Free
Make sure you're not spreading worms and viruses via email or act as a vehicle for spreading spam. All this can be caused by malicious emails. Fortunately, there's protection.
10. Say Why You Think What You Forward Will Interest the Recipient
More and better communication makes better relationships.
11. Do Let People Know Their Mail Has Been Received - Did the spam filter eat my message? Spare others this nagging question and let them know you got their email.
12. Ask Before You Send Huge Attachments - Don't clog email systems without permission.
13. Talk About One Subject per Email Message Only - Help make the world less confusing. Try to talk about one subject per message only. For another subject, start a new email.
14. Punctuation Matters; in Emails Too - Comma, colon, hyphen and semicolon — all exist for a reason: they make it easier to understand the intended meaning of a sentence. Don't make life more difficult and possibly less interesting for the recipients of your emails. Pay some — though not too pedantically much — attention to punctuation.
15. Use Acronyms Sparingly - DYK? Not everybody knows every acronym, and they don't save that much time anyway.
16. Resize Pictures to Handy Proportions Before Inserting Them in Emails
When your photos look good in your email, you look good, too!
17. Writing in All Caps is Like Shouting - Don't shout in your emails (and all caps is so difficult to read).
18. Be Careful with Irony in Emails - No, really! I mean it. Honestly!
19. Catch Typos by Printing Your Emails - You can often find typos or misplaced commas neither your spell checker nor you yourself catch when proofreading on the screen.
20. How to Avoid Embarrassing Emails - Avoid embarrassing emails by sending them to yourself only (by default).
21. Set Your System Clock Right - Make sure you don't send messages from 1981.
22. In Doubt, End Emails with "Thanks" - If you don't know how to say good-bye at the end of an email, there's one thing that will almost always be appropriate. Thanks.
23. Where to Put Your Signature - Without a line sub-scripted "sign here", how do you decide where to place your email signature?
24. Wondering "How to Put That in Writing", Write "That" -
Tell it like it is. Have you noticed how people who you understand perfectly well when you listen to them become cryptic when they start writing?
25. Why You Should Compress Files Before Sending Them via Email -
Smaller is more beautiful, at least when it comes to email attachments. So make files smaller before your send them via email.
26. Avoid "Me Too" Messages -
"Me too" is not enough content, but too much annoyance.
MY THOUGHTS
some of the tips here i do not understand.some, in my opinion, are too much. why not a "me, too" if that's what you mean and that's the only message you want to convey? i'd like to subscribe to cleaning mails before forwarding. i just hate scrolling and scrolling and scrolling down thousands of email addresses before getting to the message. and guess what, i never thought it necessary to ask permission first before sending a large file. i would certainly appreciate that.
By Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com Guide
The rules of email etiquette are not "rules" in the sense that I will come after you if you don't follow them. They are guidelines that help avoid mistakes (like offending someone when you don't mean to) and misunderstandings (like being offended when you're not meant to). These core rules of email etiquette help us communicate better via email.
1. Take Another Look Before You Send a Message - Don't send anything you don't want to send.
2. Do Not Default to "Reply All" - "Reply" is good. "Reply to All" is better. Right?
3. Keep Emails Short - Do not intimidate recipients with too much text.
4. Properly Format Your Email Replies, and Be Lazy - Do you think quoting original text in your email replies perfectly is a lot of work? Don't let the '>' intimidate you!
5. Write Perfect Subject Lines - Do you make these mistakes in your email subjects? (The key to getting your messages read is not to be clever.)
6. Clean Up Emails Before Forwarding Them - Forwarding emails is a great way of sharing ideas, but make sure the original idea is not hidden in obfuscation.
7. When in Doubt, Send Plain Text Email, Not HTML - Not everybody can receive your fancily formatted emails. Some may even react furious. To be safe rather than sorry, send plain text emails only when in doubt.
8. Don't Forward Hoaxes - Email hoaxes often contain stories that are intriguing, and sure to irritate. Here's how to spot and stop urban legends.
9. Use Current Antivirus Software, Keep it Up to Date, Scan for Free
Make sure you're not spreading worms and viruses via email or act as a vehicle for spreading spam. All this can be caused by malicious emails. Fortunately, there's protection.
10. Say Why You Think What You Forward Will Interest the Recipient
More and better communication makes better relationships.
11. Do Let People Know Their Mail Has Been Received - Did the spam filter eat my message? Spare others this nagging question and let them know you got their email.
12. Ask Before You Send Huge Attachments - Don't clog email systems without permission.
13. Talk About One Subject per Email Message Only - Help make the world less confusing. Try to talk about one subject per message only. For another subject, start a new email.
14. Punctuation Matters; in Emails Too - Comma, colon, hyphen and semicolon — all exist for a reason: they make it easier to understand the intended meaning of a sentence. Don't make life more difficult and possibly less interesting for the recipients of your emails. Pay some — though not too pedantically much — attention to punctuation.
15. Use Acronyms Sparingly - DYK? Not everybody knows every acronym, and they don't save that much time anyway.
16. Resize Pictures to Handy Proportions Before Inserting Them in Emails
When your photos look good in your email, you look good, too!
17. Writing in All Caps is Like Shouting - Don't shout in your emails (and all caps is so difficult to read).
18. Be Careful with Irony in Emails - No, really! I mean it. Honestly!
19. Catch Typos by Printing Your Emails - You can often find typos or misplaced commas neither your spell checker nor you yourself catch when proofreading on the screen.
20. How to Avoid Embarrassing Emails - Avoid embarrassing emails by sending them to yourself only (by default).
21. Set Your System Clock Right - Make sure you don't send messages from 1981.
22. In Doubt, End Emails with "Thanks" - If you don't know how to say good-bye at the end of an email, there's one thing that will almost always be appropriate. Thanks.
23. Where to Put Your Signature - Without a line sub-scripted "sign here", how do you decide where to place your email signature?
24. Wondering "How to Put That in Writing", Write "That" -
Tell it like it is. Have you noticed how people who you understand perfectly well when you listen to them become cryptic when they start writing?
25. Why You Should Compress Files Before Sending Them via Email -
Smaller is more beautiful, at least when it comes to email attachments. So make files smaller before your send them via email.
26. Avoid "Me Too" Messages -
"Me too" is not enough content, but too much annoyance.
MY THOUGHTS
some of the tips here i do not understand.some, in my opinion, are too much. why not a "me, too" if that's what you mean and that's the only message you want to convey? i'd like to subscribe to cleaning mails before forwarding. i just hate scrolling and scrolling and scrolling down thousands of email addresses before getting to the message. and guess what, i never thought it necessary to ask permission first before sending a large file. i would certainly appreciate that.
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