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Few will argue that e-mail dominates all other methods of communication within and external to an office environment in the 21st century. This is an instantaneous form of passing messages and information between co-workers, clients and competitors with the added advantage of use for record keeping and audit purposes. There are some unfortunate side effects to the e-mail system, one of which is the high visibility through which unintended recipients have access to information that could be to our disadvantage.

As an efficient method of boosting productivity and greatly accelerating the passage of important information the e-mail system stands above any previous technology however there is one fundamental weakness that few even think about. By sending an e-mail you are assuming the person to whom you send it is the only one that will see the message. What you cannot control is what happens after you send the e-mail, and it is your name that remains with the message once it leaves your computer. It is a considerable risk to your job sending off-colour humour or personal information about yourself or someone else by e-mail.

As a rule you need to stop and think before sending anything, and consider what may happen if the e-mail you are about to send becomes public knowledge. If in doubt, use the save as draft' option then come back later to review what you intend to transmit. This works really well if you are responding impulsively to an issue that has emotionally affected you in some way. Reviewing at a later time when you have either calmed down or perhaps discovered more relevant information, you can adjust the tone and even correct assumptions you may have believed as fact.

Some of the biggest risks of e-mail are the insecurity where you loose control of the information once it leaves your computer, the risk of others making changes to your text before forwarding to others and the risk of dirty laundry' coming out into the public domain. For this reason there are things you should not say or use in e-mails such as:

"You are." This is the most likely form of accusation that few will consider as anything less than a personal attack. Even a simple rephrasing like "It seems that.." lessens the impact in situations you need to be direct.

Personal Insults. Using your e-mail to transmit a personal insult is perhaps the most dangerous thing to do because retaliation will almost certainly publicise the argument. The recipient will most likely forward your insults to your

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