Netiquette Rules – 10 Best Rules for Email Etiquette

Netiquette, or email etiquette, is about the manners we use on the Internet. Cyberspace has its own culture, and has developed its own rules. Without knowing netiquette, you might commit some social blunders, or offend someone without meaning to.

Netiquette rules are based on common sense and respect, but since email is so quick, we often forget that we are still using a form of written communication.

Netiquette or e-mail etiquette 10 best rules are:

1. Imagine your message on a billboard. Anything you send can be forwarded, saved and printed by people it was never intended for. Never send anything that will reflect badly on you or anyone else.

2. Remember that company emails are company property. Emails sent from your workplace can be monitored by people besides the sender and reader, and are technically company property.

3. Avoid offensive comments. Anything obscene, libelous, offensive or racist does not belong in a company email, even as a joke.

4. Keep your message Cool. Email messages can easily be misinterpreted because we don’t have the tone of voice or body language to gives us further cues. Using multiple explanation points, emoticons, and words in all capital letters can be interpreted as emotional language.

5. Be careful about forwarding messages. If you aren’t sure if the original sender would want to forward the message, don’t do it.

6. Don’t expect an answer right away. Email messages may be delivered quickly, but your recipient may not read it right away.

7. Don’t sacrifice accuracy for efficiency. Don’t send sloppy, unedited email. Experts say that for every grammar mistake in an email, there’s an average of three spelling mistakes. While the odd spelling mistake is overlooked, when your readers have to break communication to decipher a word or message, at best, you’ll look slopping, if not illiterate. At worst, they may stop reading.

8. Include the message thread. Keep the original message for a record of your conversation. However, when sending a new message to the same person, start a new thread with a new subject line.

9. Don’t type in all CAPS. It’s perceived as YELLING. However, don’t write with only small letters, as this is perceived as your being lazy, because it makes it more difficult for people to read.

10. Write clear, organized messages, with a subject line that gives enough information for the reader to file it and find it later.

I invite you to use these netiquette rules and tips when you send email.