"Netiquette"

MEMORANDUM
TO: Ms. Walwema
FROM: Melissa Mirchin
CC:English 304 Section 020
DATE: February 11, 2010
SUBJECT: Netiquette rules for technical writing

Proper rules of netiquette should be adhered to when composing e-mails in our technical writing course. With some research, I have found some particularly interesting points.

I first located a page about netiquette on the website of the popular news network, CNN. The website included issues such as consulting with your correspondent about their bandwidth before sending a large file like a picture. This is proper netiquette because some people may not have fast downloading connections and trying to open a large file may take a lot of time or jeopardize access to other files. The time it takes to download large files may not be something your peer is willing to spare. It also may slow down other functions of the computer. For these reasons it is important to send a short e-mail first asking for permission to send a large file and then taking action based on the response given.

A second site discussed the rules of respecting privacy. This important topic discussed on this website addresses respecting the privacy of others in e-mails as well as personal boundaries. If your e-mail is not something you would be willing to share with your boss or a group of peers, it is most likely not appropriate to be sending in an e-mail. The site has a reminder that when communicating via e-mail, you are in cyberspace and you need to be conscious of who has the ability to look at your e-mail accounts. Most companies set up e-mail accounts for you and so many company superiors will be able to see your e-mail activity. Personal use or inappropriate topics should not be discussed for this reason.

Lastly, the second site also discussed forgiving people for minor errors in their e-mails. Spelling errors or improper formatting of e-mails is something that is easy to do, so do not hold your correspondent responsible for minor mistakes. If the mistake is crucial enough to point out, do so in a tactful and polite way. If the error is something that does not need to be addressed immediately, let it slide and give your peer a second chance to correct their mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes and should not be held too seriously accountable for minor flaws.

Thank you for your time and attention with this issue of proper netiquette.

Sincerely,

Melissa Mirchin




REFERENCES:

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/07/21/netiquette.tools/