[Fredslist] Fw: Email Etiquette

Tue Aug 14 15:48:35 EDT 2007

Following up on Nancy's blog today, below please find suggested Email
Etiquette from the Friars "WebMonk" Larry Gerard.

__________________________________
Fred C. Klein
Klein Zelman Rothermel LLP
485 Madison Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10022
(212) 935-6020
fklein at legal.org
http://www.kleinzelman.com
http://www.gothamnetworking.com
----- Forwarded by Fred Klein/KZRD on 08/14/2007 03:47 PM -----

             Larry Gerard                                                  
             <webmonk at friarscl                                             
             ub.com>                                                    To 
                                       Larry Gerard                        
             08/14/2007 12:10          <WebMonk at friarsclub.com>            
             PM                                                         cc 

                                                                   Subject 
             Please respond to         Email Etiquette                     
             webmonk at friarsclu                                             
                   b.com                                                   

As the Friars is communicating with both members and vendors at an ever
increasing level I have been asked by management to put together some tips
on good email practices. Google  found loads of pages under the search term
"email etiquette"  Google Results 1 - 10 of about 324,000 for "Email
etiquette". (0.21 seconds)

Following are excerpts from several pages of the 324,000  that turned up.
Bear in mind, when reading these tip that most are written for Companies
.....but apply just as well to personal emailing as well as email between
Friars and staff.

So in no particular order

Use a Meaningful Subject Line

You can make life just that little bit easier for the recipients of your
email by ensuring that you use a meaningful subject line. This really can
make a difference, especially if your recipient gets a lot of email. Good
subject lines are especially significant when sending messages to email
discussion groups and support staff but are important for personal email as
well.

If you are sending an email to ask for help or make an inquiry, a
well-chosen subject line can make it more likely that you will receive a
timely response. A concise and meaningful subject line lets the recipient
know immediately what the email is about. In an overloaded in box, good
subject lines can help the recipient process email more efficiently.
Ultimately, an email with a decent subject line may well be opened and
answered ahead of one that has a subject line that is meaningless, generic,
or worst of all, non-existent. (the Webmonks spam filter sends email
without subject to junk mail)

Another habit that should be avoided is "hijacking" existing subjects.
Unfortunately, people often start an entirely unrelated topic by replying
to a previous email but neglect to change the subject line accordingly. If
you wish to discuss a new and unrelated topic it is best to start a new
email.
Using good subject lines can increase the effectiveness of your message as
well as make you appear more professional.

Don't leave out the message thread.
When you reply to an email, you must include the original mail in your
reply, in other words click 'Reply', instead of 'New Mail'. Some people say
that you must remove the previous message since this has already been sent
and is therefore unnecessary. However, I could not agree less. If you
receive many emails you obviously cannot remember each individual email.
This means that a 'threadless email' will not provide enough information
and you will have to spend a frustratingly long time to find out the
context of the email in order to deal with it. Leaving the thread might
take a fraction longer in download time, but it will save the recipient
much more time and frustration in looking for the related emails in their
in box!
.........If you use AOL there is a setting that will automatically insert
the thread.  (if you need the settings email me and I will send them to
you)

Privacy - Use the Bcc: field
When sending an email mailing, some people place all the email addresses in
the To: field. There are two drawbacks to this practice: (1) the recipient
knows that you have sent the same message to a large number of recipients,
and (2) you are publicizing someone else's email address without their
permission. One way to get round this is to place all addresses in the Bcc:
field and send the message to yourself. (It's how I send email to the
membership and protect the privacy of their email)

Be careful with formatting.
Remember that when you use formatting in your emails, the sender might not
be able to view formatting, or might see different fonts than you had
intended. When using colors, use a color that is easy to read on the
background.

Courtesy
Electronic mail is all about communication with other people, and as such
some basic courtesy never goes amiss.
* If you're asking for something, don't forget to say "please". Similarly,
if someone does something for you, it never hurts to say "thank you". While
this might sound trivial, or even insulting, it's astonishing how many
people who are perfectly polite in everyday life seem to forget their
manners in their e-mail.
* Don't expect an immediate answer. Just because you don't get an answer
from someone in ten minutes does not mean that he or she is ignoring you,
and is no cause for offense. Electronic mail is all about dealing with your
communications when you are able to do so.
* Always remember that there is no such thing as a secure mail system. It
is unwise to send very personal or sensitive information by e-mail unless
you encrypt it using a reliable encryptor. Remember the recipient - you are
not the only person who could be embarrassed if a delicate message falls
into the wrong hands.
* Include enough information: if you are sending in a question to which you
expect a response, make sure you include enough information to make the
response possible. For example, sending the message "My spreadsheet program
doesn't work" to Lotus Technical Support really doesn't give them very much
to work with; similarly, sending the message "What has happened to my
order?" to a vendor is also unhelpful. When requesting technical support,
include a description of the problem and the version of the program you're
using; when following up on an order, include the order number, your name
and organization, and any other details that might assist in tracing your
order - and so on.

Signatures
A "Signature" is a small block of text appended to the end of your
messages, which usually contains your contact information. Many mailers can
add a signature to your messages automatically. Signatures are a great idea
but are subject to abuse; balance is the key to a good signature.

Always use a signature if you can: make sure it identifies who you are and
includes alternative means of contacting you (phone and fax are usual). In
many systems, particularly where mail passes through gateways, your
signature may be the only means by which the recipient can even tell who
you are.

Spam and adding people with out permission to your email list.
Ask first if it's OK - what's funny to you may not be funny to all and if
they receive email in a corporate environment as an employee - there may be
ramifications.

Attachments and file naming
If you are sending an attachment make sure that the name of the file has a
relevant name.
As a board member of my co-op our new managing agent has been sending
attachments named 054655scan.PDF  -  which means I have to open it figure
out what its about, then change the name, so I can file it on my computer
in the correct folder so I can retrieve it, if need be.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you find these tips
helpful

                                  Friarly
                               Larry Gerard
                                  WebMonk
                                 (c)¿(c)¬

Enjoy the Friars daily joke at
http://www.friarsclub.com/jokespage.htm

Important e-mail addresses

Michael Gyure               Michael.Gyure at friarsclub.com
Executive Director
Michael Caputo     Michael.Caputo at Friarsclub.com  Assist Executive Dir.
Mark Shatsky       Mark.Shatsky at Friarsclub.com           Catering Manager
Barry Dougherty    Barry.Dougherty at friarsclub.com Editor - Epistle
Alison Grambs      Alison.Grambs at friarsclub.com          Membership
Coordinator
Cynthia Brown      Cynthia.Brown at friarsclub.com          Office Manager
Liz Nieves         Liz.Nieves at friarsclub.com             Executive
Coordinator
Jean-Pierre Trebot JPTrebot at Friarsclub.com               Exec. Dir.
Emeritus

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Friars Club
57 East 55th St
NYC, NY 10022

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