Every community has its own standards for what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior.  The Internet is no exception.  You should apply the following guidelines to all your Internet communications, such as email and mailing lists, newsgroups, and message boards.  

• Open your message with a greeting and close it by signing your name.  A signature file is often useful for this.

• Don’t leave the subject line blank.  Give your message a heading that is brief but descriptive.

• Separate paragraphs with a blank line.

• Don’t type in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.  This is considered shouting and is very rude.  Use Internet conventions for _underlining_ and *italics* for emphasis.

• If you are replying, try to include a relevant part of the original message (usually marked off with a <).  Remove anything that is irrelevant.

• When replying to a message, don’t reply to all the recipients unless they all need to see the response.

• If you reply to a message and change the subject, change the subject line too.

• Don’t edit quoted messages to change the overall meaning.

• Check with your correspondent before you forward their message to someone else (this includes messages posted to mailing lists).

• Don’t send off-topic messages to mailing lists, especially if they are work-related lists. Ensure that your posts make a meaningful contribution to the discussion.

• Before you send someone an attachment, make sure they are able to open and read it.

• Don’t send chain letters or junk email, including commercial email.  This is known as spam and is very unwelcome in cyberspace.

• Review your messages before you send them.  Email makes it easy to send messages impulsively.  Don’t send a message when you are angry.

• Using violent verbal expressions of disapproval is called flaming.  Try to avoid it in personal mail; never do it in a public forum.  Many mailing lists will remove you from their communities if you make a habit of flaming.

• Have patience with newbies.  We all had to learn these rules at some point in time.