Part 1

If you have been active with e-mail within the Corporate world, you should be aware that some of the "rules" there do NOT apply to the etiquette  (also known as "netiquette") used universally by savvy e-mail users.

Please look this section over, even if you have been using e-mail in the past; failure to use proper etiquette in e-mail indicates that you are a <gasp> "newbie".

note:  virtually all these items are also applicable to Newsgroup (BBS, forum) postings as well

CAPITAL LETTERS: 
The use of all capital letters throughout the Internet, including in e-mail, is considered to be "yelling" and rude.  It is also difficult to read.  This is probably the quickest way to announce to your e-mail correspondents that you are an inexperienced Internet user. AVOID USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS (like that)!!  When in doubt, use small letters.  It is, of course, perfectly acceptable to use "traditional" capitalization.

Subject Lines: 
Always use a subject, or reference topic.  Besides being courteous, it allows your correspondents to save, sort and review your e-mail as they wish, and you'll have the same benefits when they reply to you.

Size of mail:
Graphics, pictures, and definitely waves (sound bits) can be sizable in the computer world.  I recommend that you e-mail nothing over about an absolute maximum of 1 mb.. 500kb is even better, and is recommended by many e-mail servers.

Large e-mail can cause serious problems in ongoing e-mail service for the receiver .  It can block their ability to send or receive e-mail at  all, and they will end up needing to contact their Internet Service Provider by phone (remember.. no e-mail), and cause them to lose all e-mail that came in after yours.  You should also remember that a great number of people  have to pay for the amount of their Internet connection time (not all of us are on unlimited access, you know).   Ask permission before you send out pictures, or make sure they are small (in megabytes) - Better yet, post them on your account at www.briefcase.com & simply e-mail out the URL (location) of them so that your friends may look at them at their leisure.

Pure text shouldn't cause you problems with "size" of e-mail.  It's the graphics, waves, and attachments that you need to be concerned with.  I suggest that you use Windows Explorer to locate the intended attachment and look at the size of it either as revealed in the Explorer listing itself (if shown), or highlight the item, <right click>, and look at "Properties", which will also give you the size of the item/file.

Stationery:
Outlook Express has the ability to use "stationery"  I've seen stationery that has revolving pictures, plays music, etc.  The problem with it is.......  they're simply graphics and waves.  Refer back up to "size of mail".  If you can't resist using stationery (and even I occasionally succumb)... please be kind with the size!  Download and viewing time for this stuff can be downright annoying, at the minimum.

Replies: 
In a business, you should at least acknowledge receipt of an e-mail to assure the sender that it has been received.  Check your e-mail regularly, daily at the minimum.  If possible, keep your Internet connection live, and have your e-mail program (if POP3) check at regular intervals for mail.  You may wish to consider using an "auto-responder" , an automated reply that you prepare, to respond to e-mail received by one of your specified e-mail accounts.

Be sure you understand the options of "reply to all" and "reply to sender", and use them appropriately.

In personal relationships... e-mail is like snail mail.... generally, to get mail you have to send mail.  Well... you'll always receive "junk mail" (it's called "spam" in the computer world).

Spam: 
Spam is the term used to describe unsolicited e-mail, sent out usually in bulk.  It's against the rules of most ISPs (Internet Service Providers), and will jeopardize your account.  For additional information, there is a special page on Spam.

Click here for Part 2, which has even more information