E-mail Etiquette = Being Open to Learning

July 7, 2008 by Judith

I am faced almost on an hourly basis with folks disregarding the importance of E-mail Etiquette. Several insinuating Netiquette is just my opinion; not the way everyone should use technology.

How weird is that!? Even if I were the one who invented Netiquette and E-mail Etiquette, what’s so wrong with using technology with courtesy for others, understanding of what you are doing and knowledge about the big-picture — not just about what you prefer to do at that moment in time?

You know my motto, it’s at the top of every page…

“Using technology to communicate with others
with knowledge, understanding and courtesy.”

To some, my stance on E-mail Etiquette makes me hell-spawn. I can hear it in their voices and see it reflected in the terse tone of their e-mails.

For the most part, nobody has had any formal training about how to use technology properly. We are all self-taught and doing our own thing. Just because technology swept into our lives over the past decade does that mean anything goes?? That the basics of how to use technology and because we are not “face-to-face” being courteous to others no longer matters?

Many only want to do what they want to do. (It’s the “all about me” mentality.) Some simply are not open to changing their ways — even if it proves to have a negative impact on how they are perceived.

To me all these issues are common sense and important enough to be paid attention to. I’ve always been open to learning new things, especially when I know I am in foreign territory. And, believe it or not, we are all still in foreign territory. Each and every day brings the opportunity to be open to learning new things and to work at building our skills.

After plugging away for the past 13 years on the topic of E-mail Etiquette, I am still surprised at the overwhelming lack of desire to learn and embrace this information. It appears I still have my work cut out for me….

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