1. Answer your e-mail politely and as soon as you are able. Be careful of what you say about others. E-mail is easily forwarded. Cite all quotes, references and sources and respect copyright and license agreements
Because of the International nature of the Internet and the fact that most of the world uses the following format for listing dates, i.e. MM DD YY, please be considerate and avoid misinterpretation of dates by listing dates including the spelled out month: Example: 24 JUN 96 or JUN 24 96 2. Be careful when using sarcasm and humor. Without face to face communications your joke may be viewed as criticism. When being humorous, use emoticons to express humor. (tilt your head to the left to see the emoticon smile) :-) = happy face for humor 3. Address your e-mail letters using the person's correct name and title, such as "Dear Editor", and sign off with a nice closing like "Your Friend, Andrea". 4. Never use all CAPITALS when writing your letters, or signing a guestbook. It is considered rude on the internet (the equivalent of SHOUTING!) and is hard on the eyes. Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading. 5. Remember, that while you are basically anonymous on the internet that it doesn't give you the right to be rude or mean. Don't write anything that YOU wouldn't want to read, or that would hurt someone's feelings. 6. Don't use bad language! If you wouldn't say it to your grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, 3 year old brother or sister, your Aunt Matilda, or your teacher, then don't say it on-line! 7 . If you're responding to someone's note, cut and paste or quote the key parts of the message to which you are responding, instead of including the entire thing. Including key parts of the message is needed for clarity . *Asterisks* surrounding a word can be used to make a stronger point 8. Make sure you include a subject line that's appropriate for your message. A subject captures the attention of your reader. Focus on one subject per message and always include a pertinent subject title for the message, that way the user can locate the message quickly. 9. Never assume your e-mail messages are private nor that they can be read by only yourself or the recipient. Never send something that you would mind seeing on the evening news. 10 . Never send any chain letters whether it is meant for good or bad luck. It is a nuisance. Sending them can cause the loss of your Internet Access. 11 . Your Email address could be easily forged by a prankster or someone threatening you, could be using a forged email address. In some email programs, one can easily put any email address on the reply-to option. This may be abused by someone and will claim that she/ he is that person. A 15 year old boy was nearly fooled by someone claiming he was the principal of his school. The supposed "principal" told this kid to remove his website or else he would be suspended for 2 days. The safety head of this site advised him to extract all headers of that particular mail to read the senders' Internet Service Provider (ISP) information. With his own investigation, he was able to report to the principal that the latter's email address was being forged and used to harass the former . So learn to extract headers and track ISP numbers of offending senders. Your friend and you 1. When you first write to a new friend, there will be a lot of e-mail at the start and then slows down. It is normal to have so much e-mails from the start because you are just getting to know each other. Don't feel bad if your friend slows down after a few weeks. 2. If you cannot reply to your e-mails for a long time, let your friend know about it beforehand especially if you have been writing regularly. 3. If you do not hear from a friend for many weeks, it might mean many things: - their computer broke down and is at the shop - they moved to another state/ country - they changed their e-mail address - your e-mail address is forever lost in the hard disk due to a computer crash - your internet provider did not "deliver" your e-mail and it got lost somewhere or vice-versa - your keypal has been grounded from using the computer - someone is deleting your e-mails - your friend is on vacation in a place where a computer is not available -too much schoolwork 4. When you haven't heard from your friend, you might want to drop in a note and say "hi" but never say "How come you haven't written ?" Some misinterpret the sentence "How come you haven't written?" to be written in an angry tone. So , if you have to use that sentence put quotations and set the tone of your letter . Example *no offense meant but just curious* 5.If you receive an e-mail that upsets you, don't reply to it. Show the letter to your parents or guardian. Don't get discouraged if you receive a letter that makes you feel uncomfortable. Discussing this with your parents, teachers or guardian or any adult you trust is the best solution. 6. If you have hurt feelings over your keypal about a certain letter , don't jump to conclusions. Ask for an explanation first. You will be surprised that your friend never meant any harm. You just can't tell if the letter was meant to be mean,rude or upsetting. Remember you are just seeing words and you can't hear the tone. Due to the international nature of the internet, kids around the world behave or react differently to certain situations or traditions. Give your pal a chance to explain . Don't jump to conclusions without having discussed this with your friend or any adult you trust.
