As with any form of communication, there are certain rules of behavior which should be considered when using email.
Email is written communication, but it does not have the formality of earlier written forms. It has a much more immediate, less formal feel than paper, pen, and stamp mail. Email is also essentially one - way communication. There is no immediate feedback and interaction. Also, written communication by definition allows far fewer context clues to its meaning as face - to -face and telephone conversation. Any written communication must be carefully considered so that it is not misunderstood, but email lends itself to casual interaction. The potential for real misunderstanding is clear.
When you compose an email message, pause and read over it again before you send it. Once it is sent, you can't get it back. Remember that your grammar, spelling, and vocabulary send a message as clear as the words. If your writing is sloppy, your message may not get through to your recipient.
Be very careful about using humor in email. Without the context cues of other forms of communication, humor can very easily be misconstrued. Often something you think is funny will insult the recipient. One student thought he was entertaining his classmates by sending a series of jokes over email. The jokes became gradually more vulgar, until a classmate was finally insulted, and the jokester nearly had his email privileges revoked. If in doubt, save the humor for less risky types of communication.
Email is not a secure form of communication. By nature, the Internet is not a very private place. Messages float all over the place. It is hard to know who will see your messages, and where they may be forwarded. It would be very poor judgment to use your office email account to send a message to your friend complaining about what a fink your boss is.
DO NOT USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!!! By convention, capital letters in an email message are considered shouting. If you write all in caps by habit, all the people you email will think you are shouting at them. It is considered a bit rude.
Consider using emotion symbols. In order to make email (especially jokes) more readable without requiring people to become master writers, some special conventions have appeared. Often, people will interject little parenthetic comments in their writing to help you understand the meaning. The following example will illustrate the principle.
The boss is a PIG.
The boss is a (wink) PIG (grin!).
Obviously, the second sentence was meant in fun. It is not so obvious that the first one was intended to be humorous. Of course, the boss may not find either one particularly funny.
Another way people try to interject little emotion hints in email messages is through smileys (sometimes called emoticons). These are special combinations of ASCII symbols that are supposed to convey emotion. :-) stands for happy. :-( is sad. Don't worry, you won't have to memorize them. Turn the page sideways and you will understand how they work. Of course smileys get far more complex. People have made entire dictionaries of smiley symbols. Some of my personal favorites ;-P (winking and sticking out tongue), broken), <<<<< :- o--- (Marge Simpson eating a lollipop).
There is a school of thought that says smileys are shortcuts, and no substitute for carefully composed writing. The best guideline is to remember who you are writing to, and what your message is supposed to be. this will help you decide if smileys are appropriate.
Email users have also developed a number of abbreviations that are used to shorten common sayings.
Remember that you are a person talking to another person. Your reader is not an account or a computer; neither are you. Address your messages to the person's real name, not just her userid. Likewise, sign your messages with your real name.