ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
(Email, LISTSERV groups, Mailing lists, and Usenet)
•Never give your userID or password to another person.
System administrators that need to access your account
for maintenance or to correct problems will full priviledges
to your account.
•Never assume your email messages are private nor that
they can be read by only yourself or the recipient. Never
send something that you would mind seeing on the
evening news.
•Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point.
•When quoting another person, edit out whatever isn't
directly applicable to your reply. Don't let your mailing
or Usenet software automatically quote the entire body
of messages you are replying to when it's not necessary.
Take the time to edit any quotations down to the minimum
necessary to provide context for your reply. Nobody
likes reading a long message in quotes for the third or
fourth time, only to be followed by a one line response:
"Yeah, me too."
•Focus on one subject per message and always include
a pertinent subject title for the message, that way the
user can locate the message quickly.
•Don't use the academic networks for commercial or
proprietary work.
•Include your signature at the bottom of Email messages
when communicating with people who may not know
you personally or broadcasting to a dynamic group of
subscribers.
Your signature footer should include your name, position,
affiliation and Internet and/or BITNET addresses and
should not exceed more than 4 lines. Optional
information could include your address and phone number.
•Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or
to distinguish a title or heading. Capitalizing whole words
that are not titles is generally termed as SHOUTING!
•*Asterisks* surrounding a word can be used to make
a stronger point.
•Use the underscore symbol before and after the title of
a book, i.e. _The Wizard of Oz_
•Limit line length to aproximately 65-70 characters and
avoid control characters.
•Never send chain letters through the Internet. Sending
them can cause the loss of your Internet Access.
•Because of the International nature of the Internet and
the fact that most of the world uses the following format
for listing dates, i.e. MM DD YY, please be considerate and
avoid misinterpretation of dates by listing dates including
the spelled out month: Example: 24 JUN 96 or JUN 24 96
•Follow chain of command procedures for corresponding
with superiors. For example, don't send a complaint via
Email directly to the "top" just because you can.
•Be professional and careful what you say about others.
Email is easily forwarded.
•Cite all quotes, references and sources and respect
copyright and license agreements.
•It is considered extremely rude to forward personal email
to mailing lists or Usenet without the original author's
permission.
•Attaching return receipts to a message may be considered
an invasion of privacy.
•Be careful when using sarcasm and humor. Without
face to face communications your joke may be viewed as
criticism. When being humorous, use emoticons to express
humor. (tilt your head to the left to see the emoticon smile)
:-) = happy face for humor
•Acronyms can be used to abbreviate when possible,
however messages that are filled with acronyms can be
confusing and annoying to the reader.
Examples: IMHO= in my humble/honest opinion
FYI = for your information
BTW = by the way
Flame = antagonistic criticism
Permission to duplicate or distribute this document is granted
with the provision that the document remains intact or if
used in sections, that the original document source
be referenced.
For additions, comments, suggestions and requests for
revisions, please click here to send email to
- RINALDI@ACC.FAU.EDU
Last updated: 24 JUN 96
- URL = http://www.fau.edu/rinaldi/net/elec.html