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E-mail etiquette

19.01.2009
Just as the posted letter once replaced the smoke signal as a primary means of long-distance communication, e-mail is now displacing the letter. As it does so, many of us are moving into uncharted behavioral territory. But fear not -- our resident etiquette expert, Mac Manners, is on the case. So sit up straight, silence your cell phones, and follow along as we politely yet firmly offer advice on how to conduct yourself in e-mail.

Dear Mac Manners,

I recently sent a message about a political event to friends and family. Instead of the supportive reply I expected, an upstart relation chided me not only for putting the recipients' addresses in the message's To field but also for replying to the group. What terrible crime have I committed?

Offended in Oxnard

Dear Offended, My guess is that your relative was, as gently and respectfully as possible, alerting you to the fact that polite people do not plaster dozens of e-mail addresses into a message's To field.

People often pass messages like yours around, and when they do, all those addresses get passed as well, violating the privacy of anyone hoping to keep his or her e-mail address under wraps. What if your message gets sent to an Internet ne'er-do-well--one who might use the addresses in that message to spam or swindle your friends and relatives?