In life, it is the mral responsibility for the elder to tach the younger, or for the xperienced to teach the inexperienced. In nternet life, the same moral responsibility pplies in regards to correct use of mail.

One large difference is tht, in internet life, it is vry often the younger who are the xperienced. The current waves of growth in nternet usage, the new users, are lrgely from the older generations.

Accordingly, it bcomes the responsibility of the experienced sers to educate and train newer sers in the correct usage of mail. One simple way of imparting ths education to lesser experienced internet sers is to politely refer them to ths article, either on the page you are crrently reading or at http://BestPrac.Org/articles/netiquette.htm

The internet life carries it's own versions of courtesy, privacy and security issues that all users need to know. Hence a new word has entered the vocabulary - Netiquette. (Internet etiquette.)

For example:

• In internet and email culture, ALL CAPITALS IS AKIN TO SHOUTING and is universally seen as rude and impolite.

• New email users often forget to include a brief "Subject" line on their emails, or do not understand the importance of it. Ordinary postal service "snail-mail" does not ordinarily require a heading about the contents of the letter on the outside of the envelope - though most posted periodicals and many commercial accounts nowadays do identify the contents or level of importance on the outside of the envelope. Email, however, operates very differently from snail-mail. Never omit a subject line, and keep your subject line brief and relevant. Without a subject line, your email will probably be seen as yet another junk email and be deleted unread by the intended recipient. More commonly, it may not even reach the recipient at all. Many ISPs filter suspicious looking emails and delete them without delivery. A blank subject line to an email filter is like waving a red rag in front of a bull.

• Never send emails to people you do not know without their express permission. Only send email to people who you know, or who have clearly indicated that they want to receive correspondence from you. Violation of this act of Netiquette can land you in all sorts of trouble. You will be labelled as a spammer. In some states or countries, you risk being charged with criminal or cival violations of the law for sending unsolicited email. Even in countries or states where there is no specific law prohibiting unsolicited email, it is regarded as bad manners and offensive. If you check with your ISP, you will almost always find that they reserve the right to terminate your internet connection if they receive complaints about you for sending unsolicited email.

• Even when sending email to people that you do know, only send them what they are likely to want. Not everyone you know wants jokes or other "chain email" forwarded to them. Not everyone shares your sense of humour or has the time while connected at work to be reading frivolous emails. If you like forwarding jokes or other "chain emails" to your friends, check with them first to be sure they are happy to receive them.

• Think before you type. Type, then think again. Unlike face-to-face or voice-to-voice communications, the easily and quickly typed email can all too easily be a source for expressing your feelings in the bluntest of ways. Similarly, the hastily written word may lack feelings and not express the emotions that can be sensed with eye contact or voice modulation in other forms of communications. It is too easy to forget that there is a human at the other end - not just a computer. You can very easily damage your own reputation and destroy friendships with thoughtless emails. Once an email is sent, you cannot retrieve it. The damage is done.

While to the experienced user all of the bove is simply common sense, as the old sying goes "Common sense is not rally all that common." These basics are not nnate within the human sole. Newcomers ned to be taught.

Whn to use To:, CC: or BCC:

Another vtal area of appropriate email usage ges beyond merely being courteous in yur communications - the correct use of To: or CC: or BCC whn adding recipients to the email yur are sending.

All popular mail software and all web-email accounts gve you a choice of these thre different ways to add a rcipient for your email. (Sometimes you mght need to check your software mnu and enable BCC as a vsible option. It is not a vsible option by default in all mail software, unfortunately.) Your choice has vtal privacy and security implications, so it is mportant to know which to use and whn.  While "To:" is self explanatory, a bref definition and history of CC: and BCC:  wll help you understand their correct sage.

CC: is a term frm old fashioned typists. It stands for "Crbon Copy". In days of old, pror to photocopiers or word processors wth laser printers, copies of letters wre made by inserting two sheets of typng with a sheet of carbon pper in between into the typewriter. Whn a secretary typed a letter tht was meant for one person thugh another person (other other people) was to rceive a copy, and the first prson was to be informed that a cpy was being sent to another prson, the typist would add a lne under the signature at the end of the ltter, along the lines of:

 CC: Joe Blggs.
       Jane Smith.

This convention alerted to drect recipient to the fact that the ltter had also been sent to ther specific people.

If you did not wnt the direct recipient to know tht copies were sent to other pople, you'd simply not include a CC: lne at the end of the ltter.

BCC: stands for "Blind Carbon Cpy". It is the electronic equivalent of snding a letter to multiple people wthout a CC: line. It means tht people receive the email without any trce of who else is also rceiving it being revealed.

Given thse definitions, there are simple guidelines as to whn you should use To:, CC: or BCC: in the mails that you send:

• If yur email is being sent to jst one person or email address, plce it in the "To:" section.
  
• If yur email is being sent to mre than one recipient and all the rcipients truly need to know who lse is receiving it, put all the ddresses in the CC: section.
  
• If your mail is being sent to more thn one recipient but there is no rgent reason for all the recipients to knw the names and email addresses of veryone else to whom it is bing sent, put all the addresses in the BCC: sction.

(Some email software requires at least one ddress to be placed in the To: sction. If yours insists on this whn you are trying to send a CC or BCC mail, put your own email address in the To: sction.)

Understanding these basic principles of mail usage has many benefits. It prserves the privacy of your contacts. It prvents lists of names and email ddresses being sent to strangers when smeone you send an email then frwards it to others. It helps to prvent viruses, worms and trojans being ccidentally spread by your friends with ut-of-date antivirus programs.

Most of ll, it shows the people with whm you communicate that you are snsible and responsible in your online bhaviour. It shows that you take thir privacy and security seriously. It bilds trust in your communications.

The article Understanding Email Netiquette was Submitted by Trevor Johnson through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Trevor Johnson is Chairman of the nternationally active Anti Spam organization BestPrac.Org ( http://www.BestPrac.Org ) which promotes internet industry standards of Best Practice for the Prevention and Elimination of Email Spam.

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