EMAIL ETIQUETTE HINTS

Forwarding Email
As a matter of etiquette, it is best to copy and paste an interesting email into a new email composition. Then address it to a single recipient. This prevents a long list of email addresses being given out to many people, including spammers. This often results in unsolicited junk mail (spam).

Group Mailing
If you need to send the same exact message to many recipients in a group, use the “Blind Carbon Copy” (BCC) option of your mail program. You will need to send the email to one person as a normal letter (you can send it to yourself). Then add all the other recipients as BCC. Each person will receive the email with only their personal email address visible.

Virus Alerts
Many well-meaning persons actually perpetuate viruses by obligingly sending it on to everyone in their address book. Most virus alerts are hoaxes. One website to check out the latest virus hoaxes is: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

Hoaxes
Unbelievable stories are often just that. Most are hoaxes, often used by spammers to collect email addresses of real people. Go to Google and do a search for “hoax”.

Chain Letters
No matter how well-meaning, these emails are usually spamming devices to collect a multitude of email addresses of real people. When an email ends with something like “Send this letter to everyone in your address book or suffer 7 years of bad luck,” the best place to send it is to the trash. A site that lists both true and false email stories is: http://www.truthorfiction.com/

Password Courtesy
When another person logs into a computer or site, it is courteous for a bystander to turn away for a moment during log-in.