KISS the recipient:
Keep It Small and Simple.
Don't send HTML mail unless you have a very decent reason to do so.
Avoid unnecessary or huge attachments.
Write clearly, and pinpoint your problem.
Don't let the reader guess what you refer or mean.
As a consequence, avoid top-posting answers and uncommon abbrevations.
Email must be sent as text-only (Content-Type: text/plain) message.
Email containing HTML will be deleted.
Deactivate “HTML Mail” or “Rich Text”
in your email program.
To emphasize individual words or phrases, use _underline_ or *bold* or /italics/ markups.
The HTML feature sends the message twice, that's waste! Most people misuse HTML, and recently all HTML email writers.
Answers in TOFU style are not allowed.
Use “Inline Quoting” to answer question by question.
Delete unnecessary text. Mark omitted citations with “…” (ellipsis).
Delete at least my footer!
However, do not delete cites that are necessary to understand your message.
Email without or with weird subject, what should I do with it?
Delete, of course!
Check spelling before sending your email.
I delete email with more than 5 errors from english-speaking countries.
Some more errors are allowed from non-english speaking countries.
Such email looks like spam, and what you do with spam?
I see every typing error!
Email is not SMS! There are capital letters, commata, spaces, dots.
Don't use uncommon abbrevations.
Use the right case for units, for example “s” for seconds, and “S” for Siemens.
And if you are too lazy to spell correctly, don't do it!
More than 10 lines of footer is spam and will be deleted.
I'm not a businessman and don't need legal stuff.
Separate your footer with “-- ” (including the space character) from your text.
Screenshots as .JPG are foolish, therefore spam …
Always save screenshots as .PNG!
This decreases file size considerably, with lossless compression.
Compare this perfect PNG screenshot (28 KByte)
with this JPG
(compressed to same size).
Moreover, you can decrease color depth to shrink the file further.
It's self-evident that a .JPG saved as .PNG will be deleted immediatels,
this is twice foolish.
Hint: You make screenshots from a window with Alt+PrtSc.
Most pictures (schematics, scans, …) are better conserved as .PNG (or .GIF) than .JPG.
I prefer vector graphics, e.g. .WMF (please zip those files).
The only exceptions are pictures out of a digital camera (like screenshots from bluescreens),
please reduce file size by cropping and resizing the image.
Unsolicited attachments must match to email content, 1 Megabyte maximum.
It's better to send links to web content than attachments.
You can make such attachments downloadable on your web or FTP server.
you use a totally outdated email program or web interface, and/or
you are too lazy to correct these bugs, and/or
you are incompetent to set-up your email program.
Will be deleted.
For people with some information technology knowledge, these rules are to go without saying.
For those who give me valuable information, my ignorance is obsolete.
More recommendations (nonobservance does currently not lead to email deletion)âš“
When referring to external sources as well as to one of my web pages,
include an exact link (URL, starting with http://,
otherwise I must guess first which project you refer)
Maximum line length: 72 characters (eases response) or “format:flowed” in header
Every question on a new line (eases response)
Every sentence on a new line (eases deletion of unnecessary text while responding)
Cite character should be „> “ at left margin (as usual)
Character set UTF-8 (enables writing of every character including €)
Separate footer from text with a “-- ” line (and note the trailing space character here)
Have you read this thoroughly?
Then write an email to me.
And bear in mind that these rules are applicable for the vast of email users in our world
while they don't punish the sender (but swallow it until they go sick) …
