Justin's Email Etiquette

Justin Daniel Meyer
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ

Version: 2004-08-22

Introduction
Email is a great method of communication that has really come into its own in the past ten years.  No more phone tag, virtually guaranteed delivery, ease of mass distribution/mailing, and continuous on-line connectivity not being a must, are just a few of the major benefits.  However, email is very easy to abuse, especially since many people have their own personal desires/guidelines on how it should be used.  The most obvious abuse is the 5+ billion "spam" emails sent every day.

This document puts into writing most of my own email policy which governs my family, friends, academic and professional electronic communications.  In addition, I have added several guidelines others use which I have encountered over the years.  Whenever in doubt, ask or take the more conservative/professional approach.  Provided below are samples of emails—or parts of emails—which demonstrate several major or critical points.  These samples/examples are in Courier font.

Salutation & Closing
A salutation is pretty much always in order, for friends, staff, colleagues, etc., unless:
-	you are answering a single question with one word or sentence
-	you have _no_ professional affiliation with them at all
If there is any doubt, use at least his/her first name.

If you have a salutation, have a closing line (the proper name for this is “the complimentary close”).  Minimally:  thanks, thank you, sincerely, talk to you soon/later, let me know if you have any questions, et cetera.  The closing should always be a separate line (in place of "sincerely" in a letter) and don't use acronyms in a closing line.  Do not omit your name...put it on the line below the closing.

Sign emails, unless no salutation is present and/or you are posting to an on-going news group or distribution list discussion.  It is better to do so, though, even then.  "J" or "Justin" is often plenty and your full name is almost never necessary.  Leave details to email signature files.

Signature Files
Signature ("sig") files are quite common in business and professional communications.  They are, however, often over-done--especially by students.  I do not usually use an internal (to Stevens) sig file, but when I do, it looks something like:

--
Justin Daniel Meyer
Resident Director, Central Area
phone# or email address

I would put my email address, since I prefer people use email to contact me. Internal email sig files should be plain and simple: full name, title, and preferred/dependable contact point.  External sig files can be more complex in order to cover more aspects or info.  My external sig file is below.  It serves several purposes, and I don't inflict it on my friends or most others, only when contacting new people or new professional relationships.  While using sig files saves typing/time (they are typically set up to be included automatically at the end of every email), whichever method you choose, make sure it serves a purpose.

Somebody, 

I was using Kazaa to find a couple songs when I came across a user with a good connection.  An indexing of the user showed many files available, including the attached.  I recommend you have your folks un-share _all_ material, just to be safe. 

regards, 
J 

--
Justin Daniel Meyer

Resident Director, Office of Residence Life
Teaching Assistant, Materials Dept.

Stevens Institute of Technology
1 Castle Point on Hudson
Hoboken, NJ 07030

Email: noone@stevens-tech.edu

ORL: 201-216-9999
fax: 201-216-7777
lab: 201-216-5555
fax: 201-216-3333

As you can see, it covers quite a bit more territory, and would be very annoying to receive at the end of every email from even one person.  This seems especially true if they were involved in a few organizations.  Most GUI email clients support default and multiple sig files.

Body—Style
Do not type in all caps, even one word.  Using all capital letters is visual "shouting", not emphasis.

Not all people receive html email.  This means that colored text, special fonts (outside of Times New Roman, Courier, and “system”), bold, underlined or italicized text will not come through, either in part or at all.  Keep your email simple and easy to read.  Don't waste time unless the recipient will appreciate (and be able to see) your effort.  The most consistent and universal way to apply emphasis is to use the underscore before and after your words.  i.e.:  I need this _right_now_.  Many html-compliant emails will automatically convert this to fully underlined, and it's faster to input.

If you have several points to make, make each one a bullet item or its own paragraph.  Keep paragraphs to fewer than 15 lines or 10 sentences.  If you have more than 40 lines to your email (and it's not going to more than a few people), call them.  Use simple characters for bullets: -, x, >, or *.

Email text is only single-spaced (even in most html-compliant clients), so make sure to put an extra line of space between each paragraph, as in this document.  Do not just indent.

In the body of your emails, make your point quickly.  Call them or meet face to face if your email:
•	is more than 3 or 4 paragraphs (40 lines/sentences);
•	is more than 4-5 easy to answer questions;
•	does not require a response that is relevant to several other people;
•	arrives at a time they are not in their environment or they are far away;
•	does not otherwise save them time and effort to answer; or
•	is not at their request.

This email from one of my RAs covers several of the points above.  The initial layout is obvious and the original message—denoted by the “>” symbols—was automatically quoted by the GUI client, then replied to question-by-question.

Somebody,
> J,
> 
> Hope your summer is going along well 
pretty good, thanks

> I have a few questions for you: 
> 1. When is the earliest that you want paperwork?
the second day of training...tuesday the 19th, I believe

> 2. How many people are on my floor again? (Palmer 3rd) (I'm planning door >decs)
20

> 3. Any clue as to what the budget looks like for next year?  Is it still $3/person per semester?
I've heard rumors it has jumped a little... nothing in concrete

> 4. Have you figured out what committee you're heading this year? 
development

> 5. Is the offer to pick me up from Newark Airport still valid?  
sure... just call me before your flight leaves to remind me what time you arrive and what terminal/flight#

> Thanks!!
Np

Have a safe flight,
J

Let the recipient know why you sent it to them and what you expect. The email is:
•	FYI;
•	explain this to me;
•	answer my or these questions;
•	I received this but it looks like it's for you;
•	need your comments / thoughts;
•	get back to these people; or
•	keep a copy as an electronic record / evidence (more than an FYI).

Candidates, 

Attached you will find a file with your selected weekends and RD interview times.  Please make sure you arrive at each appointment at least 5 minutes early, as we will be on a tight schedule. 

Group process and RA interviews on both Saturdays will be located on the 3rd floor of the Kidde building near the Schatt Lab.  (business casual dress, no tie) 

Initially, RD Interviews will be based out of the Office of Residence Life....but will most likely move to a partitioned-off area on the second floor of the center by the ARAMARK office.  (formal) 

please email me if you have any questions, 
Justin 

Resident Director, Central Area 
RA Selection Committee Chair

Body—Content
Few things will do more to degrade your credibility than the following:
•	Violating confidentiality
•	Unprofessional behavior, such as insults and rudeness; and
•	Profanity.

In addition, bad grammar, syntax, and spelling (or lack of punctuation and capitalization) will also convey a “message” to your recipient(s).  You communication skills convey your message and subtle characteristics about how you chose to carry and educate yourself, so remember to give your email a once-over and check for grammatical and tone issues.  

You also don’t know to whom the recipient may forward/reference your email.  As a representative of your office, department, or organization, you are also judged and associated with others (often by your colleagues, too), so maintain a professional attitude _at_all_times_.

Keep ambiguous emotion out of email that isn't going to your best friend(s).  Sarcasm, facetiousness, wry humor, etc., are not easily conveyed.  Happiness, anger, excitement, sadness, and disappointment usually come through fine, but the more you clarify, the better.  "Emoticons" (  :-)  :-P  ;-)  :-(  ) can help quite a bit, but should not be used in professional emails.  Remember to use the text versions, as above, because text email clients will drop picture versions.  Make sure your email can't be misinterpreted and always assume that if it can, it will likely be in the most negative/hurtful way.  Do not send emotionally charged emails unless it is unavoidable.

Keep very sensitive topics out of email: deaths, severe illness, disease, mental conditions/issues, relationships, et cetera.  Many schools' IT systems operators run scanning programs to scan email for sensitive topics like "bomb", "suicide", "kill", "pornography", et cetera.  This practice is generally to prevent abuse of the system as well as to protect the population/ corporation/ institute at large.  This started well before 9/11.  The sysop then scan these few flagged emails for threats.  Your and administrators’ email is not "above" this.  Sysops are generally _very_ trustworthy people, but _you_never_know_ who might accidentally see an email.

The second most useless form of email (remember, the first is spam), is joke and chain letter propagation.  Chain letters/offers/hoaxes/sob stories/pleas for help/surveys are wasteful and self-serving and banned by pretty much all IT systems operators; in certain circumstances they can be illegal.  They waste your time, disk space, server processing power/time, and perpetuate untruths.  If you like to email jokes/etc. out to a list of people on a regular basis, first ask them if they want to receive such email. 

------------
J's example email to new staff on his joke/chainletter email 'policy' and expectations.

Fellow RAs,

I appreciate that you want to include me on your joke or general email lists, but consider the following:

We are, by nature, over worked with 20+ credit hours, a part-time job, sports, and membership in student organizations.  
------------

Attachments
If you are going to send an attachment out, it is expected that you will scan it to make sure it doesn't contain a virus, worm or malicious MSOffice macro.  If the attachment is only a few hundred Kb (less than, say, 1/2 a MB), it's okay to send; it shouldn't overload the average email account.  If it does get bounced, the recipient is probably storing email on the server and should be advised not to, because it is very frustrating to people trying to communicate with them.  If the attachment is over 1/2 MB (remember that the server tacks on another 10-20% when it packages the file for transport), warn the recipient first—unless s/he requested it.  

Although we appear to be at the beginning of an email account “revolution”, most email accounts outside of Stevens are limited to 2 megabytes (MB) in size, hence maximum email attachment size which may be received is limited to about 1.75MB.  The internet protocol limits emails to 6.5MB.  This is a hard limit, which can not be worked around without revamping the protocol.  Attachments over 5MB need to be transferred using ftp or http sites.

Using Email
On our campus, expect a reply in a few hours or less than 1 day; at the longest, it may be the next day.  In the real world and on other campuses, it may take 2-3 days for people to reply, as they still regard email as a phone call/ voicemail.  Non-automated business interactions—especially web support and general contact emails—often take 3-5 days.

If you have not received a reply, re-email your message/inquiry on the 4th business day.  You may safely email them a reminder earlier if it is
•	very important;
•	their responsibility to you;
•	a previously agreed upon deadline; or
•	a deadline you have the authority to impose.

If you BCC somebody (they are carbon copied, but only you and s/he see and know this), send a quick follow-up email to remind them:
-	not to reply to the email;
-	to keep the information confidential; and/or
-	and explain why he was BCC'ed if he doesn't already know.
This way he doesn't accidentally "reply to all", and leave the original recipients to wonder how and why this new person received the email.

Don't BCC people unless absolutely necessary.  It's annoying to keep track and control of extra information beyond that with which people must deal every day.

Often when replying to an email, one must decide whether or not to “reply to all”.  If pertinence is easy to see, great; if you are not sure, email the sender only and let him/her decide.  If you use a distribution list and a staff member (or someone not on the list gets a copy of it and) abuses it, address the situation immediately.  Emailing them directly will show that you are serious, aren’t trying to put them down in front of others, and demonstrate that you take responsibility for your supervisees and distribution lists.

As the media has reminded us off and on for the past few years, email is becoming a very common tool for evidence in legal actions.  Ideas, threats, harassment, intents, and even joke emails have been taken and used to support the claims of one side or the other.  Because context or emotion rarely translate truly in email, many businesses and institutions have adopted a “shred after 30 days” email policy, saving minimal material.  Emails can last virtually forever on system backups, so if you don’t want your email read in an open court, don’t write it.  [FYI, Wall St. financial institutions were recently mandated by the SEC to begin logging and archiving all IM-type sessions.  Businesses and institutions may soon follow suit.]

Email “Short Hand”
Acronyms and abbreviations have proliferated in the wake of wide spread use of such an informal form of communication.  Below are a few of the more popular acronyms used in email, IM, and newsgroups.

B/C – Because
BCC – Blind Carbon Copy (they get CC'ed, but no one but the sender knows this)
BRB – Be Right Back
BTW – By The Way
CC – Carbon Copy 
e.g. – exempli gratia: Latin for “for example”. (belongs in italics)
FTF – Face To Face 
FWIW – For What It’s Worth
FYI – For Your Information 
HTH – Hope That Helps
ITW – In The Works
i.e. – id est: Latin for “that is”. (belongs in italics)
IANAL – I Am Not A Lawyer 
IMHO – In My Humble Opinion 
IRL – In Real Life 
kB – kilobyte 
LOL – Laughing Out Loud
LOLROTF – LOL Rolling On The Floor
MB – megabyte 
NP – No Problem 
OTW – On The Way
PS – Post Script Latin for “after document/letter”. (belongs in italics)
PPS – Post-post Script 
RTFM – Read The F'n Manual
TBA – To Be Announced
TBD – To Be Determined
TIA – Thanks In Advance 
TTFN – Ta-Ta For Now
TTYL – Talk To you Later 
TTYS – Talk To You Soon
W/ – With 
W/O – Without
YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary

Conclusion
I hope this document has helped provide an idea of what is acceptable for social and professional email communication in today’s society.  This is a “living” document, so if you have any suggestions for additional topics or issues that should be addressed, send me an email at JDM[at]JustinDanielMeyer[dot]com (this email is obscured so web “spiders” and “bots” can’t glean it for spam lists—just read into it).  

This document is copyrighted 2004 by Justin Daniel Meyer.  Permission is granted to distribute and retain freely, both electronic and hard copies of this document, provided that: 1) the document is retained in its entirety; 2) the document is not provided for charge or included in any work which is not free to any who desire it; and 3) if you amend or update the document, a copy is sent to me at the above email address.  The one exception is the “email policy email”; this piece may be used on its own to squash those annoying people who send you 4 joke/whatever emails every day.