Email Etiquette:
It has been written many times that Email messages will be the downfall of writing as we know it.  There are those who agree with this statement, giving the excuse that diatribes generated electronically can have basic writing conventions overlooked and excused simply because they are done by computer.  Nothing could be further from the truth and nobody should ever accept messages that play fast and loose with all that we know about language.  If anything, writing should be enhanced because it is done on computer.

Emoticons:
If you've read a lot of email on the Internet, you've seen these things all over the place.  In fact, many computer books on the Internet will have a whole chapter devoted to these things, under the guise of "Internet Etiquette".  These are things like ;-) which requires you to turn your head 90 degrees counterclockwise to see a character winking and smiling and doing other things at you.  On the Internet, you'll find entire pages devoted to creating lists of these things.  Actually, here's a page with a bunch of links to others listing emoticons. http://www.generation.net/~millette/surprise.html. Everyone seems to want to have the "complete list". Such characters certainly seem to be in vogue.

Recently, I received correspondence from a university professor and the email message started "Dear Doug ;-)"  Certainly nobody was ever taught to write using this as a solid writing convention.  Should we accept it just because it's on computer?  Emphatically, I would say no.  If you feel the need to do something along this line, use the fact that you're using a computer and choose a font like "Wingdings" and the characters that it supports, like J.  (Pressing the "J" key while in Wingding font and changing the colour to red)  Better yet, ask yourself if it's really necessary in the first place.

Responding:
If you are having a conversation with someone in a face to face or over the phone situation, part of our language conventions are that you acknowledge that the person to whom you are communicating has said something or that you've understood the point being made. Sometimes this acknowledgment can be body language like a head nod or a quiet "uh huh". Email conversations don't end that way. It's maddening to send an electronic mail message and not know whether or not it has conveyed the intended thought to its recipient. Sure, you can check the message's history from "Message" menu, but all that does is let you know if and when the recipient has read the message.

As in most communications, let the person you're talking to know that the message has been received. Even if you're at ends to think of something pithy to say, a simple "Thanks" can leave your reader with the good feeling that the message has been received and read. If you're having an email discussion with someone outside the First Class system, they don't have the luxury of checking the message history, so a confirming note is appreciated.

How to Respond:
If you are having an email discussion with someone, consider the following two things. First, they may not be a regular email reader. In this case, it may be a day or two before they get a chance to read your message. Or, it may be that they receive a lot of electronic mail on a daily basis. In either case, "quoting" part of their message back to them may be very helpful and appreciated. It puts your reply in its proper context.

First Class offers a couple of ways to quote from a message. First, from the "Message" menu, there is an option to "Reply with Quote". What this does is copy the entire contents of the first message into your reply, label it Sender writes: and then the original message appears in a highlighted background. You then type your response at the bottom of the message. By quoting with the reply, your reader will understand just what you are making reference to and it can also make your typing job a little easier because you are making reference to something already appearing in the message.

The downfall of "Reply with Quote" is that it copies the entire contents of the first message into your reply. There's a better way if you just want to highlight one sentence or paragraph. Before you reply to the message, highlight the part of the message you want quoted. First Class will only copy that text into your reply.

In this way, if you are concerned about the amount of text in your reply to the sender, you can limit it to just a portion of the original message. While it may seem like a small courtesy, it really is appreciated in order to keep the conversation alive and to the point.

What's the moral of the story? Don't let the fact that you're using electronic mail erode everything that you know about language. Find new ways to keep literacy alive and use the technology to enhance it.