Netiquette (network etiquette):
appropriate language and operating procedures for communicating online
Try to remember that the electronic messages you send in an academic environment should be different than personal messages you send to your best friends. Your readers and audience may be your current and future classmates, professors, administrators and even employers. What you say (and how you say it) tends to depict and define who you are in an academic environment much more so than in more private and less public communications. Also, remember that electronic communications are much longer lived than the spoken word. Due to the nature of this medium, what you write in an email can be rebroadcast, forwarded to others, saved, archived, examined, and, yes, perhaps even used against you in a court of law. As you may know, privacy laws regarding email in the work place are still in a state of flux. Although the university and the work place are dissimilar, they do share some important qualities. Always be aware of your university's technology acceptable use policies.
Email messages may seem seductively similar to the spoken word and quick, offhand comments are easy to make in this medium. But following a few common sense rules of network etiquette could be very beneficial to you in the long run. Here is what I recommend to all of my students:
Generally end your messages with your name and email address.
Always include a descriptive subject heading with your email.
Your posts and your responses to professors and other student's posts should be thoughtful and worthy of typical college classroom discussion. A good rule of thumb is never write anything in an email that you would not normally say out loud in a college classroom.
Only forward a message if it is appropriate and if doing so will not harm the reputation of the writer. If in doubt, get permission to forward the message from the original sender.
Never write or forward inappropriate emails in an academic setting (a class listserv or course discussion list), such as jokes, spam, evangelizing messages, pleas for humanitarian assistance, or warnings about viruses. If you are writing to a listserv or discussion group with a particular purpose, stick to that subject, topic or purpose.
When replying to an email, decide how much of the text of the original email message is appropriate to leave inside your reply.
Be careful to make sure you are replying to the right person, people or list. Are you wanting to reply only to the sender? reply to all? reply to the entire discussion list? Be aware of your "reply" settings and know how to use them.
Take reasonable care with your punctuation and spelling, and don't write in all capitals SINCE IT LOOKS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING.
If you quote email in another venue--a paper, an article, an online essay--get permission from the writer you are quoting.
If you get flamed, do not flame in return. Stay cool and respond with wit and good humor. It will make you look cool and make the flamer look bad.
Never assume electronic discussions will remain private or secure, even if sent to a trusted individual or group.
Some material adopted from:
Crump and Carbone. "A Twelve-Step Netiquette Quick Reference." Writing Online. URL: http://college.hmco.com/english/writingonline/netiquet.htm (July 31, 2000).
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