Using Email Effectively (What You Need to Know)

When you're new to email, you're usually shown what keystrokes to use to read and send a message. After using email for a few years, you learn from your own mistakes and from reading other people's mail. You learn:

• How to organize saved mail so that you can find it again
• When to include a previous message, and how much to include, so that your reader can quickly make sense of what's being discussed
• When a network address "looks right," so that more of your messages get through the first time
• When a "bounced" message will never be delivered and when the bounce merely indicates temporary network difficulties

With first-person anecdotes, examples, and general observations,Using Email Effectively shortens the learning-from-experience curve for all mailers, so you can quickly be productive and send email that looks intelligent to others.

Here's everything you need to know to communicate effectively through e-mail. Most of us discover through painful experience what works and what doesn't with e-mail communication. Part of the education is learning the culture of the Net, and part is adjusting our regular writing styles to the screen. Although this book's nuts and bolts are about UNIX e-mail programs and commands, the majority is devoted to style and would be helpful to anyone. There's also a terrific chapter on mailing lists if you really like a lot of e-mail.