(Netiquette) Tip #2

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Is it worth sending? Don’t waste peoples’ time or bandwidth with junk, chain e-mails and false rumors

Some of your friends and people you know love getting lots of e-mail, IMs and jokes. Others don’t. Before you start sending lots of jokes and attachments to someone, find out if it’s okay first. And if they tell you they are busy, respect their time. It never hurts to ask first. That way people will look forward to getting your e-mails and cybercommunications instead of ignoring them. Also, don’t send long e-mails to people who only read short ones, or short ones to people who like long ones without explaining why.

Don’t send chain e-mails. They clog up e-mail servers, especially at school. And sometimes scare people, especially younger kids. Also, sometimes bad people who are looking to find kids online use them to spy on e-mails and find new kids to contact.

Also, never send anything you haven’t confirmed as being true. Many hoaxes and cyber-rumors are sent by people who just blindly forwarded them on, without checking to see if they are true.

If you are going to send an e-mail to someone famous you found online, think about what you’re going to say. Many of these people answer select e-mails, and you want yours to be answered, not ignored. Also, if you ask them for something that is inappropriate (like helping you write your term paper) or something you should have found on your own (like their biography or information readily found at their Web site) they probably won’t bother answering you.

Also, don’t just send a “hi!” message without more. The worse that will happen is that it will be caught in the spam-filter or ignored. The best that will happen is that they will say “hi” back. What good is that? Also, never send an attachment to someone you don’t know. They will probably automatically delete it. You can almost always include a photo or the document in the e-mail itself, instead of having to attach it. And make sure that you have allowed them to reply, without finding that they are blocked by parental controls or your e-mail filters.