Has email protocol changed in the past 30 years?

The Top 10 tips to Using Email

35 years ago someone said:
"E-mail is becoming a common means of communication between people."

While working on another article about "The Most Important Inventions of All Times" I ran across one essay on why email is an all-time important invention.

Please keep in mind, this article was written in 2002

While the Internet has been cited as one of the most important inventions, I dare say it couldn't compete with the likes of, say, the fire -- or electricity, or the automobile. Let's face it, if the Internet went away today life would probably go on. In all likelihood life would return to normal very quickly. But email is another thing -- quite possibly the single saving grace of the internet. Would we have email without the internet? I suspect we would. Would we have the internet without email? Maybe, maybe not. Keep in mind that the general public used email before the internet became popular.

People have always understood the importance of making a good impression in face-to-face communications and situations. And, at one time there was an overall sense of decency and "netiquette" which governed email. Today however, what could arguably be a most significant advancement in communications since the telegraph has changed dramatically.

I laughed when I ran across a forum post captured from America Online in December of 1993 talking about the importance and value of email. It listed the top ten techniques for using email effectively. Let's take a look and ask if these rules are still valid a decade later. (I'll put my afterthoughts in parentheses.)

The Top Ten Techniques For Using Email Effectively (1993)

• Have a business-like e-mail address. (This one still seems true, although the wide spread use of 'disposable' and 'hidden' email addresses contradicts this rule.)
• Check incoming mail at least once each business day. (True. You would certainly think once a day would be enough. But with the spam rate of ten to thirty spams an hour, perhaps twice a day would be better just to take out the trash. I know people who check their email only once a week or so.)
• Respond to each message within 24 hours. (Yes, this is in keeping with good netiquette if you somehow could know who to reply to.)
• Write in complete sentences with no misspellings. (Duh. Yes. But misspellings have become commonplace -- particularly in those unscrupulous emails attempting to thwart the spam filters.)
• Answer all questions. (Don't you hate it when you send an email asking several important questions and the response comes back "yes" or "maybe"? This one still very true!)
• Longer is better. (Well I don't know about this one. With today's attention span of a three-year-old, long emails simply don't get read. While there is the risk of misunderstandings if your response is less than adequate, the response must be ultimately clear and succinct.
• Verify that your attachments are being received and can be decoded. (If from someone you know and trust, yes this one's still valid. But with all the virus, Trojans, zombies and dot-doc files incoming from the criminal element this one should probably read "Don't accept any attachments" -- perhaps telling those you know and trust to just send it via snail mail.)
• Make good use of your e-mail filing cabinet. (It's difficult to believe people had to be reminded of this. I know some people who still delete each email after reading it. Yup, this one's more important than ever.)
• Don't rely on e-mail alone to maintain contact. Etiquette requires some communications to be written and sent by snail mail. Use good judgment and consider calling. (Duh -- this is a no brainer.)
• Never say anything in email you wouldn't say face-to-face. (This one is an essential of good communications, but long dead as evidenced by the spammers and direct marketers.)

So what has become of email communications in the past decade?

I believe for good and honorable people the essentials of practicing good email etiquette hasn't changed a bit. It's just too bad that it has attracted the dishonorable and criminal element of the world. Even though spam has ruined the real potential of email as a communication medium -- the good news is that because of all the spam, many people today find other, better means of communication when the message and the recipient are important.

Give me a call!

Thanks for reading...
           

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