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Mind Your E-Mail Manners

Don't contribute to rudeness on the Web; learn these ten rules and use them forever.

James A. Martin

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Let's begin our e-mail etiquette course with a pop quiz: Your coworker Hank has such terrible breath that it's become a subject of office gossip. Should you send an anonymous e-mail to warn Hank, tactfully, of the problem?

If your answer is yes, you've violated PC World's second rule of e-mail etiquette: Don't use e-mail to deliver sensitive messages. But don't be discouraged: Lots of other people's e-mail manners are as bad or worse.

With the explosion in use of the Internet and personal computers have come massive violations of e-mail etiquette. An online survey conducted by Yahoo found that the majority of 13,000 respondents scored a C-minus in e-mail etiquette. As manners maven Letitia Baldrige recently said in a USA Today opinion piece, "E-mail is so beloved, universally accepted, and adored that I feel almost like a traitor suggesting that there is a growing trend to abuse it."

The Perils of Impoliteness

By displaying poor e-mail manners, you risk anything from minor embarrassment to unemployment. Dow Chemical recently dismissed 50 workers for circulating pornographic and other inappropriate material via e-mail. Late last year, the New York Times fired 23 employees for swapping off-color messages.

In the hopes of civilizing cyberspace, PC World has compiled a list of the ten most egregious e-mail infractions, listed in descending order of severity. We also offer advice from Miss Manners columnist Judith Martin and others on how to avoid making them.

The advice, in short, is this: The Golden Rule still applies. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. After all, wouldn't you rather hear about your atrocious halitosis from a trusted coworker than from an anonymous e-mail?

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