A Guide to Friendly and Responsible E-Mail

This Guide is meant to be a user-friendly explanation of the generally accepted rules of etiquette as they have come to be applied to E-Mail on the InterNet.  These guidelines should be always in the back of our mind whenever we sit down to write a message to another via E-Mail.

While not intended to be Hard and Fast Rules, all of this information is based upon common sense and the first rule of behavior...

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you!

We all appreciate the kindness of those we know and love.  Even more, we can be thankful for the kindness of strangers.  The InterNet community that has grown to become USNA-Net is an odd combination of friendly strangers - all shapes, sizes and backgrounds, united with a common thread of interest and concern for Midshipmen enrolled at the United States Naval Academy.  In consideration of this strange mix of members from all walks of life, you should remember a few simple rules that expand on the first rule.

Do's

• Keep e-mail short as a general rule.  Some recipients must use long distance to connect, still pay by the hour for their connections or have slow modems that make lengthy e-mail costly or inconvenient.  Not every message needs to be a study in efficiency, though.  Sometimes the subject requires a longer explanation or deals with something that needs a longer treatment to tell the full story.  Just use discretion.
• Remember to put a short and descriptive SUBJECT on each of your messages.  Doing so will help make your message stand out in a cluttered In-Box.
• Remember to sign your e-mail with at least a first name and a general geographical location.  Not everyone has an E-mail return address that makes sense upon casual inspection and most recipients will have no idea of what city or state you call home.
• Remember to be supportive, patient and understanding of others.  We all were new at this e-mail stuff at first. 
• Offer advice - not criticism.
• Share your experiences with the rest of us.  Recap your latest visit to the Yard for those of us who live too far away for frequent visits.  Remember, some parents and relatives live all across the country and hang on every word about the daily goings-on at the Yard.
• Share your joy in the accomplishments of your Mid with the membership.  All of us want to know the good news about your Mid and life at the Yard.

Don'ts

• Don't ever forward someone else's e-mail to anyone without asking the original author if it's OK first.
• Don't Flame!  Flaming is the practice of being extremely critical of another's view or opinion.  It may involve name-calling, demeaning words or inferred criticism.  It comes in all flavors and varies in tone of voice but it's all in very bad taste and is disrespectful even in its most plain vanilla form.
• Don't send personal messages via the Listserver.  Send personal notes or responses to other members DIRECTLY at their personal e-mail address.  It helps cut down on In-Box clutter.
• Avoid ANY negative remark about Mids or the USNA.  Your son or daughter has enough to deal with at the Yard without having to hear something from another Mid that he/she heard in an e-mail from home about a certain Mid, a USNA policy or a certain class or instructor.  ESPECIALLY, if the news item is of a negative nature.  Coping with all of the pressures of life away from home is difficult enough without inflicting additional grief resulting from what someone on the Listserver said about something, no matter how small or insignificant.
• Don't forward Listserver messages to your Mid as a matter of routine.  Each Mid has a full and very intense schedule.  Extra e-mail might seem like a way for him/her to stay connected to home but most often, your Mid is too busy to read all of the chatter we share on the Listserver.
• Don't whine about your (or your Mid's) problems.  Instead, explain your problem to the other members of the Listserver and ask for their advice or the experience of other parents.  We're here to share and support.  Take advantage of the Listserver facility to understand what is happening and how you can become part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
• DON'T USE ALL CAPS in your messages.  All Caps is the Internet equivalent of SHOUTING!  Use quotes or stars (***) to emphasize text.  It's much more polite.
• Don't send a note (Broadcast or direct) to a member who has done something that isn't quite right.  Instead, allow your moderator to explain what happened and how to do it right the next time when that sort of thing is necessary.  Put yourself in their position and imagine receiving fifty or a hundred reminder notes to never, ever, do that again.
• Don't forget rule number one!

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