The Core Rules of Netiquette by Virginia Shea
The following 10 rules and reminders for online communication and behaviour have been summarized from Virginia Shea's book, Netiquette.
Rule 1: Remember the human
Remember that behind every screen is a human being with independent thoughts and feelings. It is easy to misunderstand or be rude to others when you are not interacting with them in person. Before clicking send or post, ask yourself: Would you say it to the person's face?
Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior as in "real life"
This rule is a reminder that the ethical standards and laws that govern our society extend to cyberspace as well. This includes harrassment and bullying, copyright regulations, and privacy.
Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace
Different environments require different behaviour. The way we interact with our friends, for example, may not be acceptable in a school or work situation. This principle extends to online environments as well. Comments that are acceptable on Facebook, for instance, may be considered inappropriate on a professional networking site such as LinkedIn.
Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth
In this rule, "bandwidth" is synonymous with "time." When you send and email or post on a discussion board, keep your comments brief and relevant to the environment or situation.
Rule 5: Make yourself look good online
There are many positive aspects about the Internet, including the ability to remain anonymous. This rule is a reminder not to allow this aspect of the Internet influence how you communicate. Pay attention to your grammar, spelling and word choices as well as the overall content and truthfulness of your writing, as this is what others are using to judge you.
Rule 6: Share expert knowledge
The Internet is a great platform for sharing good information. However, it can also be used to spread misinformation and distortions. If you hold a lot of knowledge about a certain topic or subject, don't be afraid to share it online in a manner that is helpful and accurate.
Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control
"Flaming" refers to verbal disagreements that occur between users in contexts such as message boards. They are often a result of strongly held opinions and emotions. As in rule 4, do not monopolize online discussion with long or offensive commentary.
Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy
The Internet is an open forum. Remember not to share information about others that could get them -- or yourself -- into trouble, both personally and professionally.
Rule 9: Don't abuse your power
This rule is intended for those who carry more power on the Internet as experts, designers, system administrators or even hackers. Power should always be used responsibly and not to harm or take advantage of those who are less powerful or knowledgeable.
Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes
Give other users the benefit of the doubt and consider that they may come from a different background or have less experience on the Internet. Do not be rude when you encounter someone's mistake -- always respond with courteousy and respect.
Next: Organize your inbox Unread
email are bold. To open an email, click it. By default, replies to email are grouped into conversations. Keeping all email together in a thread makes it easier to keep track of them and saves space in your inbox. If you prefer to separate your existing email from future email, you can turn off conversation view.Get started with Gmail
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1 Create and send email
2 See new email
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3 Reply to email
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4 Change recipients or subjects
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- To add more recipients, type their email addresses.
- To remove recipients, next to their email address, click Remove .
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Edit an email subject:
5 Save and print attachments
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You can quickly add images and attachments to your email by dragging them from your desktop to your Gmail compose window, or drag pictures and attachments from your email to your desktop if you want to download them.
Learn more about Gmail attachments.
6 Email without an internet connection
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Use Gmail offline to read, respond to, and search your Gmail messages when you aren't connected to the internet. Any email you write, archive, label, or delete while you're offline will be sent or moved when you’re back online.
When you enable Gmail offline on a device, your messages sync with the browser's storage on the computer you're using. Enable Gmail offline on each device for which you want offline access.
Enable Gmail offline:
- At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
- Go to the Offline tab and check the Enable offline mail box.
Note: If you don't see this option, contact your administrator.
- [Optional] Next to Sync settings, choose how many days of email you want to store offline.
- Next to Security, choose whether to keep or remove offline data on your device.
Note: If you don't see this option, contact your administrator.
- Click Save Changes.
7 Turn your vacation responder on or off
Note: To use Vacation responder, your account must be at least 24 hours old.
- Open Gmail .
- At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
- Scroll down to Vacation responder and select Vacation responder on or Vacation responder off.
- If you turned on the vacation responder, enter the dates you're away and add a message. Then, select who should get a response.
- At the bottom, click Save Changes.
Related topics
If you are a Workspace Individual subscriber, you can create a branded email and send it to many recipients at once.
- Learn about bulk email best practices
- Create branded emails with customized layouts
- Use multi-send for email marketing, newsletters, and announcements
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