Unit 3 Part I - Intro to Email

Email Vocabulary

Just like the rest of the Internet, email comes complete with its own vocabulary. we have:

address--a person's unique email address, such as yourname@citizens.com

subject--just like in a memorandum, good email messages contain a subject line briefly stating the content of the message. It pays to be specific, because many people receive so many email messages that they decide whether or not to read the message before putting it in the trash by the subject line content, just like many people throw away junk mail without reading it.

signature--in email, this is your full name, nickname, name and address, any pertinent information you want to be included with the message.

signature file--the above information contained in a text file, so that it is appended to all messages sent by an individual. Different browsers have different methods to specify a signature file, but there will always be a way.

netiquette--email manners. Can also refer to chat room manners, or any other form of communication on the Internet. Because the Internet is such a new and unique medium, people are having difficulty making rules for its use. Out of sheer necessity, the users of the Net have, over the period of time since the network was born, tended toward certain rules of network conduct. This code of network ethics has been given many names over the years--the one that has seemed to stick, however, is "netiquette", a conjunction formed from "network etiquette." Some basic principles of netiquette include "don't type all in capital letters, it will seem as if you're shouting" and "say please and thank you a lot, because email is a very tactless means of communication." Further information on netiquette can be found all over the Internet through any search engine. One of my personal favorites is available in the Files for this Unit, called "Netiquette.