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Whether you are using email for business or pleasure, here are some basic tips you may find helpful:

1. First, think about email the same way you would think about mail you send through the postal service. Because there is no cost for email, our email accounts fill up each day with unwanted advertisements, jokes, cartoons, and lectures on this and that. If you had to pay postage, would you send out a copy of a cartoon to fifty or more of your closest friends? You may find certain jokes funny, but think carefully before you thrust them on your friends and acquaintances.

2. If you decide you want to put together a mailing list of those you know who will really appreciate the few jokes that you do decide to send out, ask those you are thinking of adding to the list if they want to receive those types of emails from you or give them a way to opt out.

3. Be polite in your email exchanges. If you receive an email that requires a response, respond promptly. If you send an email and expect a response, give the recipient time to respond before emailing them to find out if they received your email.

4. Read email carefully and count to ten or twenty before responding. Some people using email aren't great writers, others may have an odd way of saying things. Before you let your anger get the best of you, read the email carefully a couple of times. Whatever you do, be polite. There is nothing to gain by putting something in writing that you will regret.

5. Remember that email can be permanent and it can reach anyone. If an email you are about to send sounds rough to you, delete it. Don't take a chance on sending out something that will embarrass you in the future.

6. Don't send out an email containing disparaging remarks about a friend, co-worker, or your boss. Your private email to one friend or co-worker about another might not remain private. It's too easy for people to forward email. With a click of a button, your email could end up in hundreds of mailboxes, and it could even end up in the mailbox of the person you made remarks about.

7. On a practical level, be careful when sending email with attachments. If you are going to attach photographs to your email, be sure to resize the photographs so that you don't overload the recipient's mail. If you are attaching a document, be sure it is in a form that the recipient will be able to read.

Overall the best tip is to treat email with respect for what it can do in both a positive and a negative sense.

Learn more about this author, Lou Belcher.
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