While I am certainly no Emily Post I do think that there are some basic rules to e-mails and some of these apply to the posting of blogs and comment sections.

The first one is typing in all capital letters. In case you don’t know, typing in all capital letters is the equivalent of yelling at someone. You might think it looks cool but to savvy e-mailers you look like the new kid on the block and they will write you off. And your boss at work might actually take as much offense at being screamed at in type as they would in person. And remember all lower case letters just looks lazy.

Next one up is the angry e-mail. Just like a face to face conversation you need to think before you type. It is amazing how much texting and e-mailing seem to have given people the freedom to say whatever they want. If it isn’t something you would say in person, chances are you really shouldn’t say it on a screen. Try it. It has saved me from embarrassment many times. Type exactly what you are feeling, put every bit of emotion into what you are typing. Then, take a deep breath, save a copy in your draft folder and walk away from the computer. Wait at least an hour. Longer is better. Read it again. Now, is that really what you wanted to say? Hmmmm. I thought not. Remember your tone will come across and sometimes in the wrong way.

Be careful with sarcasm and don’t use little smiley faces to soften an angry e-mail. They just make the message even more confusing. Use smileys or emoticons, only when they go with the emotion of the message and use them sparingly. Don’t use e-mail as an excuse to avoid personal contact.

There is never going to be anything better than face-to-face or at least a message from a live voice. Emotional messages can be twisted around in e-mail. If you are forwarding a joke, message, story anything at all, please strip it down. Remove all of the extra information and addresses before you send it. It will cut down on the size of the message and make it easier to read.

When you are e-mailing friends and family but especially when you are e-mailing during business hours your style of writing says more about you than you think. Even in a quick little note, people notice. Everyone makes a typo here and there but check your capitalization and punctuation.

When sending an e-mail to someone fill in the subject line. If they are busy they need to know if this is a joke that can wait until a better time or is it something they need to tend to right away. And speaking of wasting time. When you reply don’t send back one that says “what?” or “why?” ask the whole question so the person replying back knows exactly what information you need.

Use your courtesy copy (CC) and blind copy (BC) the correct way. It shows that you have nothing to hide when you CC anyone who needs a copy instead of using your BCC to hide the fact that you are sending it to someone else. It is a good idea to use BC for a large mailing list so that your recipients don’t have a long list of names to contend with.

And remember that e-mail isn’t private, especially in the work place. Your e-mails are considered company property and can be easily retrieved and used against you. And the recipient of your mail can add to the message or take something important and forward it on.

Don’t let e-mail be the only way you communicate with your family. I sat down a few weeks ago and wrote my daughter in Atlanta a letter.

I knew as soon as she opened and read it. She confirmed what I had been thinking, sometimes there is no way as good as the old way.

Christina Hall can be reached by e-mail at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com.