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Seniors helping seniors use computers and the internet

 

Seniors Email Discussion Group

SeniorNet invites and encourages members to join an "E-mail Discussion Group". The facility used for this purpose is provided by Yahoo! Groups.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this chat group are not necessarily those of "SeniorNet Ipswich" and the group is not supported by SeniorNet Association Inc.

Discussions or sharing can be on any topic, provided basic netiquette rules are applied. The main purpose is to form friendships and enjoy checking email from the group. Please consider joining now.

To send a membership request, follow this procedure:

  1. Type in your email address below.
  2. Click on Yahoo Groups! Join now.
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Congratulations you have joined the SeniorsOfIpswich Discussion Group. You will be notified of your registration via email. You will be asked to confirm your registration. To confirm your registration, REPLY to email by clicking "Reply" and "Send" in your email program.

What is 'Netiquette'?

It is the application of social graces when communicating with others whilst on the Internet. These rules apply whether you are using e-mail, chat-groups, or newsgroups.

Face to face communication can result in misunderstanding and on occasions, strained relations between the parties involved. Written communication is not without its problems either. As e-mail use has become widely used, many new users have been on the receiving end of scathing attacks from other users who took offence to a message from a new user. Such attacks are known as 'flaming' or being 'flamed'.

A system of etiquette has developed in the field of e-mail and newsgroup communication. To check this out, try entering 'netiquette' in your favourite search engine when next you are on the Internet and see what is offering.

Before you enter a news group you should spend some time reading that group's FAQ’s (frequently asked questions) and its information for newbies (new users). 

The following 'Do's and Don'ts are excerpts from various sites that offer guidance on the subject. They will give you an idea of what is and isn't acceptable conduct in e-mail use. The basic points are:

Editing the original message.

To save space in the body of your response to a message it is recommended that you should delete unnecessary text from the original message, retaining only that text to which you are responding.

This allows the thread of discussion on a topic to be easily followed by the recipients. This principle can also be applied to the head and foot of the message which contain the sender’s details e.g. the date, time, and address. Leave only the important text of the sender's message relevant to the topic, and the sender's name.

These may be considered to be Cardinal Rules.

  1. DON'T include the entire text of the message to which you are responding. Never include mail headers except the 'From' line.
  2. DO cut the original message down, leaving just the pertinent text to which you are responding.
  3. DON'T reply to a point in a message without paraphrasing what you're responding to, and who said it.
  4. DO paraphrase briefly. E-mail programs usually indicate the lines of the original message by prefixing them with a > symbol. Other programs offer options to identify the original text lines by indenting them.
  5. DON'T send a message asking, "Who want's to talk about X".
  6. DO say something yourself about the subject you're raising.
  7. DON'T SEND A MESSAGE IN ALLCAPS. CAPITALISED MESSAGES ARE HARDER TO READ THAN LOWER CASE, and text in upper case is considered to be shouting at your addressee.
  8. DO use normal capitalisation.

The above information is offered as a guide for new users and may help when you decide to join a news or chat group.