How do you write your emails?
Posted 12 July 2007 at 8:18AM by Simon Dickson in Email and communications
An article in The Guardian last week has prompted some interesting debate about politeness and 'wrapping' in emails. 'We don't know how to begin, and, worse yet, we don't know how to end our emails,' writes Stuart Jeffries. All too often, he observes, we rush to intimacy: using language we would normally reserve for close friends, even for business contacts we have never even met.
Alex Reid from the Oxford University Computer Centre has produced an email etiquette guide, which encourages prompt replies to everything you receive, even if a brief acknowledgment is all you can manage. (You can see a version of it at the London School of Economics site.) But whilst the rules seem largely sensible, there's still room for dispute. My own personal bugbear is the one-word 'thanks' email: I've usually stopped what I was doing to read an incoming email, and I'm expecting more than a single word. To be honest, if I've done someone a favour, I assume they'll be grateful. (They'd better be!)
On the well-regarded Web Worker Daily blog, there's general agreement that shorter is better, and that it shouldn't necessarily be taken as brusque or rude - but a few respondents still see a place for the more traditional niceties. You can't win.
Tags: email, etiquette, formality, guardian, informality
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Comments
2. At July 12, 2007 11:53 AM, kim wrote:
most of their advice is common sense
i wouldnt agree though not to include the original email in full on your reply
i send out many emails and would be totally stuck if the original email wasnt in the reply ie i like the full rolling story going backwards and forwards rather than looking up previous documents.
who are they to give advice anyway, surely its upto individuals and organisations to decide their own policies
As with all things as long as you are polite, and quick to reply the rest is common sense - dont overcomplicate life!!
3. At July 16, 2007 11:58 AM, Andy Knight wrote:
What I hate is improper use of case and punctuation. See Kim's response for a prime example.
4. At July 17, 2007 3:52 PM, James Hayden wrote:
I can only agree with Mr Knight regarding proper punctuation and capitalisation.
There also is nothing worse than people who write in capitals for every letter and also these people who do not use full stops and no paragraphing are just the worst, I usually delete these emails or advise them to use a spellchecker.
Perfect examples of professional emails are sent out by none other than the various BT email teams.
5. At July 18, 2007 2:51 PM, Susan Smith wrote:
Being something of a pedagogue, I cannot agree more with Messrs. Knight and Hayden! There really is nothing worse than improperly punctuated or poorly spelled e-mails.
The question I ask myself is this: Do these people use such poor standards in handwritten letters through the more traditional land mail method?
Having attended a Grammar School in my youth, I find it immensely irritating to witness such a lack of respect for the rules of grammar, spelling, capitalisation and of course punctuation. It was refreshing to see the proper use of an apostrophe in the word "'phone", keep it up guys and Mr. Dawson!
6. At July 19, 2007 11:21 AM, James Hayden wrote:
I am so glad that someone else agrees regarding proper punctuation and capitalisation of emails.
I myself did not attend grammar school just a comprehensive where our English teacher, Mrs Nicol encouraged us to write properly and professionally and hated nothing more than ballpoint pens and always encouraged us to use fountain pens and blotting paper (please note I am not that old this was 1986 - 1990), she would have a fit if she could see some of the emails and letters we are sent today!
It saddens me to hear about current teaching policy where they seem to rely on spellcheckers and the use of word processors.
In my own opinion I think people who do not write proper emails would not have a clue on how to use a fountain pen and how to lay out a handwritten letter.
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1. At July 12, 2007 9:42 AM, J G Dawson wrote: