AncestorNews: E-mail Etiquette

One of the best things about the Internet is the ability to find and correspond with new cousins. Once you begin posting and answering online queries, you’ll be amazed at the number of new cousins who appear in your life.

I was fortunate enough to connect with Knox family cousins online. Since that initial correspondence, cousin Judy has sent the rest of us lots of family information, as well as the first photo I’d ever seen of my great-great-grandparents. Through Judy’s endeavors, I am now in contact (via snail mail) with a first cousin, twice removed.

E-mail correspondence is wonderful—in seconds, messages fly around the globe, and family members can share family trees instantly. However, sometimes we put a little less effort into composing our e-mails than we do our regular letters. We can be too curt, too informal, or just plain sloppy!

If you’d like to hone your e-mail skills, these sites will help you earn an A-plus from the Emily Post of online correspondence!

• Dynamoo’s E-mail Etiquette
www.dynamoo.com/technical/etiquette.htm

• E-mail Etiquette
www.iwillfollow.com/email.htm

• E-mail Etiquette, with Some Rules to Extinguish Flame-Throwing
www.larrysworld.com/articles/emailete.html

• The 10 Commandments that Rule E-mail Etiquette
seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/technology/html98/inbo_19991017.html

• E-mail Etiquette (Netiquette)
www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec99/pirillo1.htm