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email etiquette

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Wouter Groeneveld 2024-01-12 10:49:59 +01:00
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---
title: Email Etiquette
date: 2024-01-12T10:09:00+01:00
categories:
- braindump
tags:
- email
---
In one of the buildings at our university campus, a big TV screen next to the staircase tried (in vain) to educate students on how to correctly send emails by listing dos and dont's. The funny examples convinced me to stop and read what was being displayed, for the first time in more than five years since I take those stairs, but judging from the emails I get from students, the message didn't stuck for long.
A few examples I can still remember:
- Don't use your personal email address`<destroy4r2001@hotmail.com>` but your student email `<firstname.lastname@student.university.be>`.
- Don't write `question!` or `help` as the subject but actually mention what your inquiry is about `course x: question on y`.
- Don't simply use `dear` or `sup` to address the recipient but use the correct title and name `dear dr. Groeneveld`.
- Don't end your email without a salutation or with `ciao` but be polite `best regards, name`.
- Don't forget to check your text on grammatical errors but re-read before you press send.
I'd like to add a few more guidelines myself:
- Don't use abbreviations `idd` but write everything in full `indeed`.
- Don't write in smartphone-mode `need2know` but remember email is a digital letter form.
- Don't forget subjects or conjugating verbs `is problem` but show respect and write correct sentences `This is a problem`.
- Don't lean heavily on the exclamation marks `is problem!!!11!` but only use one if really needed!
- Don't rely on emojis to express your opinion 💩 but use sentences and words `What a shitty assignment`.
Our Flemish government has a language advice team that [published email etiquette guidelines](https://www.vlaanderen.be/team-taaladvies/taaladviezen/teksten-schrijven/brieven-en-e-mails/e-mailetiquette), where number one is _do not send unnecessary emails_. Another well-known local job recruitment agency [posted 25 rules](https://www.jobat.be/nl/art/e-mail-etiquette-de-25-ultieme-regels) where _Adhere to the rules you were taught at school_ is probably the best advice: good sentence structure, use of capitals and punctuation marks, ...
The first two words of a student email give me a very good indication whether or not the student put in effort to correctly formulate their question. Over the years, I've received mails that start with:
- `Dear,` (I am not your lover; please use my name to address me. Relying on the anonymous `Beste,` in Dutch isn't that much better) This is the most common way students seem to address me.
- `Groeneveld,` (Ouch. I do have a first name, and what happened with simply beginning with "hello"?)
- `Dear Prof. Groeneveld,` (I am flattered but am not a professor. But thanks, I guess?)
- `Hey,` (Woah woah woah, do I know you?)
- `Hi Wouter,` (That's not a big improvement...)
- `I have a question` (did you forget something? Hi, how are you?)
I wonder whether or not we can all benefit from a refresher in email etiquette. Some of the above guidelines (_adhere to the rules you were taught at school_) also make for great blog writing guidelines. Some bloggers love using abbreviations in combination with spoken language, making their text look like a long form of smartphone texting instead of a proper piece of written language. I don't care about rich usage of diction but I do get annoyed when encountering and having to look up what `IDK` means, since _I Don't Know_. Ha! No, really, I didn't, and it's not like you're going to buy back a significant amount of time by heavily relying on shorthand notations that your readers just have to figure out.
Emojis and abbreviations seem to have slipped into our daily email (and blog) texts, as Gmail-like conversation chains automatically push us towards informal chat-like writing instead of formal addressing and greeting. And there's nothing wrong with that, but the more we rely on that, the less we're capable of producing grammatically and structurally sound letters. And I do love sending and receiving a lovingly long letter.
Best regards,
Wouter Groeneveld. (Should that full stop be there? IDK 🙃 _Presses publish_)