Citizen of Maine
Email Etiquette
Like most people, I use email every day. Over time, I have thought about email etiquette and developed some ideas. It amazes me how often I encounter the below transactions.
1. Return emails promptly. Treat them like a phone call.
If you don’t want to contact the sender, that's another story. If you wish to continue your relationship, answer your emails!
2. Address questions. Either answer them or say you don’t wish to.
I have noticed that if people don’t feel comfortable with a question, they ignore it and never mention it in their reply. Would you do this in conversation? No, of course not. Senders don’t understand that a nonreply is a reply!
3. Use accurate grammar and spelling.
With voice activation, it is easy to rattle off messages and send them without careful poof reading. I have received confusing emails or texts that gave me a false understanding. I have been guilty of hurried messages and am trying to improve. Be respectful of your reader.
4. Remember that your attitude is embedded in your email.
Be thoughtful about your responses. Hurried emails can convey the wrong message. Make sure the tone of your response conveys what you intend to convey.
The same rules of good communication apply to emails as to other transactions. If relationships are important, we all need to be thoughtful about communication.
Bari, Italy
New England
Mist rides the air,
As the winds bring music,
From the sea to the mountains,
In New England
Where Paul rode
And pumpkins grew,
In the fall of my time.
Hear the horn through the fog,
As seagulls fly:
And waves crash,
On Pride’s Crossing Beach,
Where No one walks at night,
When the sun has gone
And the gate is shut.
I heard the loon,
In the north country,
Where mountains rise above
The rushing rivers,
The Saco, the Ammo, and the Swift
When the snow turns to rain
When flowers race to the surface
And the sun brings a new day.
Well said.
Thanks Gary.