Star Links Links mentioned
in The Star
Star Source Send us your
news tips, ideas
Cyber survey
Which is your favorite awards ceremony?
Golden Globes
Academy Awards
Emmys
Tonys
MTV Video Awards
Country Music Awards
People's Choice Awards
Other
     
Breaches of netiquette
Not everyone appreciates the e-mails you like to pass along.

Take the pledge

Before you forward that e-mail, Judith Kallos writes on her site:

"Raise your right hand and repeat after me:
• "I will not forward any dumb joke, 'chain letter' or unimportant e-mails to my friends without their permission.
• "I understand that by doing so I may fill up their inbox, use others' resources unnecessarily and may cause other important e-mail to bounce.
• "I understand that most folks have seen those e-mails a million times and find them annoying.
• "I know that by forwarding these so-called humorous e-mails I may offend or tick off people who do not share my sense of humor or who are sick of having those stupid e-mails forwarded to them.
• "I will not forward a single e-mail unless it specifically applies to the person I am sending it to. I will include a personal note to that person so they know why I am forwarding the e-mail. If I must send or forward the same e-mail to a group of contacts, I will be sure to put their e-mail addresses in the BCC: (blind carbon copy) field to protect their privacy."

Send a dose of netiquette
Kallos invites people who are sick of personal spam to let her be the bad guy. She will e-mail them a "dose of netiquette." See the Web site.

 
E-mail basics

Judith Kallos, on her site, suggests these New Year's resolutions:
• Take time to make sure sentences are complete, capitalized and include proper punctuation.
• Don't send a large attachment (over 100K bytes), even one you think is a very special photo of a grandbaby, child, pet, car or vacation, until asking when would be the best time to send it to the intended party.
• Every e-mail should be courteous and include a proper greeting and salutation that includes your name.
• Don't include profanities, accusations or rudeness. If you run into problems with another onliner in a chat room, message board or by e-mail, simply cease communications. Report ongoing abusive e-mails or threatening behavior to your Internet service provider.
• Be respectful in how you use your employer's technology resources, understanding they are paying the bill and you are on their time. Review employer's policies to avoid any problems.
• Avoid formatting e-mails with colored text, bolding or italics because it may not look as intended when received. Many prefer plain text and, if you communicate with clarity, formatting is not necessary.
• Be diligent about clearing your e-mail account's inbox to ensure it does not become full and bounce/return e-mails to those trying to communicate with you.

Ellen Miller

Links to external sites will open a new browser. IndyStar.com does not endorse external sites.

 
January 29, 2004
 

We've heard lots about the junk e-mail clogging our inboxes, but what about that special category of clutter -- the unsolicited, forever-forwarded stuff from people we actually know? These are the FWD: messages we often delete without opening. They contain jokes we've already heard, diatribes that offend our beliefs, saccharine "inspiration" and chain letters threatening bad luck.

And even if we appreciate the content, we're annoyed at having to scroll through countless e-mail addresses and gobbledygook to get the message. Plus, with "Mydoom" and other computer viruses wreaking havoc, who wants to take a chance of getting infected?

Experts in netiquette, or online courtesy, say mass- forwarding unsolicited material not only is rude and a possible virus source, it can violate receivers' privacy and break copyright laws.

But because personal spam comes from people we know, it's important to think before we plead with senders to stop.

"Do you tell your friend that they have halitosis? Do you risk losing the friendship over that? I think it's easier to just delete it," says Henry Kurkowski, 33, vice president of business development for eWireless.com in Broad Ripple. "They think they are doing something to perk you up, to get a little laugh."

Still, he tried to tactfully, with humor, let an old high school friend know he wanted off her list for one topic.

"She's very religious," he said, "and she would send all these things. I said, 'I appreciate your point of view, but remember the old adage: Don't discuss religious and politics.' She stopped sending those kinds, but she still sends the kitten ones -- like the kitten in a tree that says 'Just hang in there.' "

Judith Kallos, 44, a computer services consultant in Lincolnshire, Ill., was so tired of online ignorance that she created www.OnlineNetiquette.com.

Dealing with frequent-forwarding friends and relatives "is one of the touchiest netiquette issues I have to deal with," Kallos says. "I get e-mails all the time about friendships lost and folks no longer talking to each other just because one asked the other to cease and desist with the forwarding of jokes, bogus virus warnings and chain-letter-style e-mails."

She guesses senders think they're doing receivers a favor, and being told to stop is a slap to the ego. That may be why she hasn't been blunt with her own mom, a frequent forwarder.

"With my mother, I just delete them. Close family and friends, you don't want to beat them up," says Kallos.

Virginia Shea, author of 1994's "Netiquette," advises gentle treatment of offending forwarders, most of whom mean well.

"It doesn't take that much time to just delete the messages," says the 42-year-old Californian, though in some cases, she recommends this approach:

"Say, 'I really appreciate your thoughtfulness, but because this is my work address, I don't have time.' Then tell them your Hotmail account and just don't look at it."

Sandra Lamb of Denver, author of "How to Write It" (Ten Speed Press, 2000), says it's not the recipient's fault if an e-mailer finds insult in a polite "take me off your list" request.

"I literally get hundreds of e-mails a day, and there's absolutely no way I want to hear someone's 12th-generation forwarded list of jokes," says Lamb, 50. "The way I've handled it is, 'I appreciate you putting me on your list, but I request that you take me off because I simply get too many e-mails.' No one has seemed insulted, but whether privately they have been, I don't know."

With kin and close friends, she suggests this: "At the same time that you ask them to take you off a list, you pose a question that initiates a one-to-one relationship. You might say, 'So nice to hear from you,' ask several questions and give some short news."

Debby Dunn, an Eastside day-care provider, says she liked that two girlfriends she's known since high school asked before adding her to their e-mail lists.

"Today, one sent me tips on what rapists look for when they are trying to find their next victim," says Dunn, 43. "I'll read that."

But she disliked when an acquaintance she met on vacation sent unsolicited stuff.

"It bugged the hell out of me," says Dunn. "I e-mailed him back: 'I like to hear from you to find that you are OK, but I was getting repeats on the jokes.' And I don't hear from him at all now. But if that's all you've got to send, I'd rather not hear from you."

Glenn Sparks, a communications professor at Purdue University, sees frequent-forwarding as a reaction to feelings of dislocation. "It's an attempt to reach out and try to establish contact with people in your life. But at the other end of it, people find this stuff to be pretty irritating," he says.

Ironically, personal spam can be more annoying than the commercial kind, says Sparks, 50.

"It's coming from people we regard as important in our lives," he says, "But when the messages are essentially trivial, this tends to aggravate that sense of alienation. It tends to trivialize the very relationships we like to think of as important."

Sparks hasn't asked his three brothers to stop forwarding. "I don't really want to discourage them from sending e-mail because I'm hoping that eventually, they will send something meaningful."

Call Star reporter Ellen Miller at (317) 444-6130.

Email this Print this Post message Send letter to editor Reprint info
 
Top Stories

• ATA's parent finds breathing room - 11:59 AM

• No trial until fugitive doctor found - 11:43 AM

• Slain couple new to Indianapolis - 10:53 AM

• Wife sentenced in murder-for-hire - 7:29 AM

• Martinsville teen faces arson charge - 7:28 AM
  Gannett Indiana network:  Indianapolis  •  Fishers  •  Lafayette  •  Marion  •  Muncie  •  Noblesville  •  Richmond