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Electronic mail, or e-mail, is without a doubt the most widely used Internet service. It will allow you to keep in touch with anyone .. anywhere! The key to using the Internet without causing great animosity and rage to other users is simply to remember that there is, in fact, another person that will, at some point, read the message. Seem obvious? Perhaps. Nonetheless, what follows is a list of things you can do to keep emailing simple:

Message Size. Email was designed to send text and text alone. The email protocol is, henceforth, optimized for transferring very small amounts of data very quickly. If you, the sender, deem it necessary to send a large attachment with your email (such as an image, a program, etc), you are defying all laws of email nature. This is not recommended. Most email servers can not handle message sizes larger than 2MB. Most email client packages (such as Outlook, Eudora, Netscape, etc), do not effectively handle 1MB email messages, particularly on computers with low RAM. The fact is that sending your file as an email attachment greatly increases the chance that the intended recipient will not get the message at all. If he/she does get it, they will likely have to wait an inordinately long time for it to download to their computer, and even then, it may not work. This is especially important when sending email attachments to people who are not expecting it. Most often, people want to sit down, read their mail, and be done. However, that 2MB image of your daughter (who I am quite certain is very cute) keeps them from reading their mail quickly and painlessly.

UPPERCASE. DO NOT USE ALL UPPERCASE. PLEASE?!?!?! The common reason given for this is that, online, uppercase indicates shouting. While this is true, it is not the number one reason why you should not use all uppercase. Any student of design or typography will tell you that humans rely upon the tops of letters to read. Words have distinctive shapes that are formed by the contour of the tops of letters. We read by identifying these shapes, not by identifying individual letters and then piecing them together into words. All that, plus IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING!

I don’t like your tone! At times, it can be very difficult to determine a sender’s demeanor from the text of their email. Always remember that text is unable to inherit tone, and you, the sender, need to do something in your message to identify your attitude. This is often done with smiles, such as :) or :-).

See C. That is, notice who is getting your messages. Do not continue to include an enormous list of people in a thread that has become a two-way conversation. Moreover, watching the CC field of your message will unquestionably save you the supreme humiliation of sending some very embarrassing text to someone that should not have received it. Your boss, for example.

Write well. Used mixed case, capitals at the beginning of sentences, proper punctuation, etc. This goes back to what I said about typography. It is simply easier to read. Do not sacrifice spelling for speed. This can be acceptable in chat rooms, but there is no excuse in email.
 

Also remember the following tips:

1. Email is easily forwarded to someone else. Although this is convenient, it is not always appropriate. If you are unsure, ask the sender before you forward a message.
2. Email replies may go to more people than you realize. When replying to a message be sure to look at the list of recipients, especially addresses of mailing lists, which may redistribute your message to dozens or hundreds of individuals.
3. Email can be junk mail, so avoid unnecessary proliferation of messages.
4. Email takes up computer space, so delete messages you no longer need.
5. The integrity of an email message cannot be guaranteed. If a received message seems out of character for the sender, double-check before taking it seriously.
6. Email should not be considered private. Confidential information should not be sent by email.

There are a number of other issues to consider when writing email, but following these tips will have you well on your way to happy recipients and efficient use of the email system.