Before Sending an Email
By Hewie Poplock
Central Florida Computer Society
I get a lot of email. I mean a lot! I am sure that most of you do, too. I have some suggestions for you and for you to pass on to your friends and family.
On average, 51.1% of readers spend less than 2 seconds looking at your email, according to a blog from a company  that tracked over 4 million email opens. Of course they were tracking advertising campaigns, but every email that you send should be just as important to you and to your recipients.
I have unscientifically found that most people trash your mail if there is no subject. If there are several topics in the email, you will be lucky if they notice or remember 1 of them. If the important stuff in the message is below the first paragraph and especially if they have to scroll to see it, it probably will not get read at all.
If the message is in all caps or all lower case, it may not get read or may be blocked by a security program. If there is no way to tell who sent the message, it may not get read. Who the heck is bigfoot1000@****.com? Sign your message and use your full name. I know more than 1 Mary and more than 1 Mike. If you mention that you read an article or saw some information, give a link and make it a link. Most email programs will interpret a complete URL as a link (http://www.hewie.net, but not just the domain (hewie.net). Give credit to the original author. When I see a tip and the article says, "I did…", I expect it to be you and not Kim Komando!
Don’t forward a lot of jokes. Your friends don't really want them and most don't think all of them are that funny either. Sending one once in a while is nice, but it is Spam if you send several. If you find a link where you see a lot of jokes, forward the link, not the jokes.
If you send a message to several people, use the BCC so that your address book doesn't become someone's Spam list. If you are replying or forwarding a message, clean it up. You should remove the >>> in the message or other indicators that the messages has been forwarded a bunch of times. If it contains an ad, delete the ad. If you care enough about the topic and the recipient, take the time to make the message presentable and readable.
In summary (and a few more items):
•	Keep the message to 1 subject
•	Include a Subject and keep to it, if in a thread
•	Change the Subject if the thread changes
•	Try to keep your message to 1 paragraph or 1 screen
•	Separate paragraphs with a blank line
•	Keep the main thought at the top
•	Use as good English as you are able. Use upper & lower case and punctuation.
•	Sign your message with your name. In most cases use your full name
•	Include links and use the full link
•	Clean up replies and forwards
•	Keep the jokes at a minimum. If you find a good source, send the link.
•	Be sure to use the BCC for addresses if sending to a list of people
•	Delete ads and repeated info in replies and forwards
•	Look at your message before you send it. Do want a message like this?
If it is hard to tell your family or friends about some of the best practices for sending an email, send a copy of this article.