This is presented as true to the best recollection and is offered
for guidance with NO warranty expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
Some rules of Etiquette....
More about Network Etiquette.
1. Do NOT send HOAXES!!
See More about Hoaxes
2. Do NOT send HTML and fancy stuff to those who request that
they receive plain text. It often makes the message VERY
difficult to read. It also doubles (and more) the line
transmission for BOTH the sender and recipient.
If things seem slow, then switching to plain-text for everybody
might help performance at BOTH ends.
3. DO REMOVE all of the prior headers and tag lines from all
messages which you are forwarding.
4. DO include a topical "Subject:" field, as it is a tremendous help to the recipient
in identifying the importance of reading it;
it also helps to identify it as NOT being that dread SPAM.
5. DO make sure that your E-Mailing sending
program clearly establishes your REAL name as the sender.
Do NOT use cutsey stuff like
"Mack & Mabel" or "The Fumbler" or "John"
rather use something like "George & Martha Washington"
This helps the recipient identify from whom it has come.
Most E-Mail receiving programs display the sender's name
in the index/table-of-contents;
if none is recognized, then the sender's E-Mail address will
be shown (often these are very cute and cryptic but
distressing to the recipient);
the worst case is when the name is set to a blank, then the
field displayed is blank.
One thing that is particularly distressing is to receive
a change of E-Mail address with NO name other than the prior E-Mail address or
a simple signature of "Joe".
It makes it VERY TOUGH for the recipients to try to find the spot in their address
books to make the change.
Have Mercy on Those to Whom You Send.
About "To:", "CC:", and (especially) "Bcc:"....
Most top-of-the-line E-Mail programs allow for specifying 3 types of addresses:
"To:", "CC:", and "Bcc:";
the message headers in the messages to all of them will contain the full
email address of those in first two groups;
NONE of the email address of those in the latter group will show up at any of the destinations.
.. none of the recipients will know that a copy of the message went to anyone in the "Bcc:" group
.. none of the recipients will learn the email address of those in the "Bcc:" group
.. any virus on anyone's system will not be able to "mine" from such a message
the email address of those in the "Bcc:" group.
THUS using the "Bcc:" option can help reduce the spread of Spam and Viruses and also
the size of messages in everybody's queue and mailbox.
UNfortunately, some sub-optimal E-Mail programs require at least one address in either
of the first two groups; some folks fill this in with one of their own addresses --
e.g., an unused account at Yahoo.com or elsewhere.
Some Other Thoughts ....
There is a small school of thought which contends that including in your address book an
invalid address like the following (which has a single UNbalanced "<" ) ...
<AAbogus_Addr@nowhere.virus_only.com
may help thwart the spread of viruses. There is some merit to this idea.
If your system gets a virus which attempts to send a message to your
entire address book,
then the virus will likely attempt to use that address,
UNLESS it is smart enough to recognize its invalidity.
If your email program looks for invalid addresses before sending messages,
then it may alert you to that fact when the virus uses your email program to do the sending,
UNLESS the virus is smart enough to send messages by itself rather than using your email program.
If the virus puts a LOT of addresses in one message, then all of those other folks will be
spared getting the message,
UNLESS the virus is smart enough to put only one address in each message.
The bottom line with this is that it may be of some help but is FAR from the
oft-touted guarantee.
ON SPAM _________
There is a LOT of SPAM going around these days.
It wastes a LOT of time and space to dowmload it before you delete it.
There are several tools which are available to help in the matter ...
Some top-of-the-line ISPs offer SPAM Removal tools; one such is Earthlink which
offers two. ** The first tosses into a special SPAM bucket anything which it recognizes
as known SPAM; this is marginally helpful, but catches only a little of the WHOLE
world of the junk.
** The second additionally tosses in
any mail from addresses other than those which you have told it are OK addresses;
this, too, is marginally helpful, but catches all of the messagess from potential new
good addresses.
** In either case, you have a few days (or until it fills up) to logon and check on the
contents of the SPAM bucket.
There are services or packages which small businesses with their own email servers
can obtain (subscribe or purchase) for a fee which will pass-thru all mail from all good
addresses and send back
a message to all UNvalidated addresses asking them to state the nature of their business.
The reply to that message is passed thru on its return, and the addressee can then decide
whether to accept the message, mark the address as OK, or reject the whole thing.
Have heard of similar arrangements available for single parties,
but have never encountered any.
There is a very useful feature available on many first-rate E-Mail programs by
which a MAXimum size value can be specified for downloading messages.
Any message smaller than the specified size will be completely downloaded,
but larger messages will only have a small portion downloaded and will
then be presented with a notice
about the existance of the remainder. The user is then given to option to either
download the remainder or to delete it. By using this feature, LARGE attachments
and included text portions can be deleted withOUT ever being downloaded.
There is a very useful tool available in 3 versions (free, paid, and Professional)
from the site at ...
http://www.mailwasher.net/
which allows the user to get a look-ahead peek at the INcoming mail queue at the ISP
and see fields which include the Sender and Subject. Based on this info the user can then
either (1) take no action, (2) delete the message, or (3) "Bounce" the message as though
the address was INvalid.
(The object of the latter being that maybe the sender will delete the address and quit
sending the SPAM.)
After which the user can then ask the original E-Mail program
to get/read/download whatever remaining "good" messages are still in the mailbox
at the ISP. This saves a LOT of time that would otherwise be taken up by downloading
all of the SPAM before realizing that it should be deleted. The Pro version allows for
processing against multiple E-Mail addresses.
ON Address Changes and Forwarding _________
When choosing an E-Mail Address -
.- AVOID using the number one "1", because it's too
easily confused with the letter "l".
.- AVOID using the letter pair "rn", because it's too
easily confused with the letter "m".
.- SIMILARLY be careful with the owes "oO" and zeroes "00".
Remember, too, that the font that the sender sees is NOT ALWAYS
the font that gets displayed for the recipient.
Never Change E-Mail Addresses Again -
If you are ever planning to change E-Mail addresses, then
would suggest considering getting a Google-Mail account at GMAIL.COM
with a fixed/constant name (e.g., adam.forever@gmail.com) and
then setting the account parameters to forward your mail to your actual
E-Mail address at your current ISP (e.g., adam@flybynight.net).
They are FREE and have a LARGE amount of space.
Actually they can be managed via any of the following ...
1.- forwarding it to another address at an ISP of your choice (as above)
2.- the Web -- by browsing to http://mail.google.com from ANYWHERE with a Web connection.
3.- a POP3 connection -- handled by your local email client
(like T-Bird or Outlook)
The main advantage being that as you might ever change ISPs,
then you can either manage it with NO change (with options 2. or 3. above)
or possibly by just simply adjustiing the forwarding address (with option 1.)
to re-direct the mail to your new ISP
-- in ALL cases obviating the need to alert those who send you email that
your address has changed.
Have mercy on your friends -
One thing that is particularly distressing is to receive
a change of E-Mail address with NO name other than the prior E-Mail address or
perhaps just a simple signature of "Joe".
It makes it VERY TOUGH for the recipients to try to find the spot in their address
books to make the change. Your FULL NAME will help a LOT ---
and maybe your maiden name, too,
if your relationship is in the areas of genealogy or school-mates.
On_Other_Stuff