E-mail: Send it as if the world were looking over your shoulder

For some, it could serve as a wake-up call.

When e-mail messages sent by Paul Mirecki, a Kansas University religion professor, were exposed last month and made national headlines, it was a reminder that what we say online might not be as private as we had thought.

“A lot of people I’ve talked to have been surprised, even in this day and age, that what you say on a Listserv isn’t private,” says Nancy Baym, an associate KU professor who studies Internet communication. “If anyone thought it still was private, they learned their lesson.”

Truth is, Baym says, you should conduct yourself exactly the same online as you would in person. You never know who might be watching or where your messages might end up.

“I think there’s a real mismatch between what people are expecting and the reality,” Baym says of Internet privacy. “Really, they’re on a world stage.”

200 dpi 82.7p x 82.7p Jeff Goertzen color illustration of a shifty-eyed girl sitting at a computer with binoculars looking at her. 1998 CATEGORY: ILLUSTRATION SUBJECT: COOKIES ILLUS.jpg ARTIST: Jeff Goertzen ORIGIN: Dallas Morning News TYPE: JPEG SIZE: As needed ENTERED: 7/15/98 STORY SLUG: COOKIES by Pete Slover, Dallas Morning News

Mirecki learned that last month, when e-mails he had posted to an electronic mailing list for KU’s Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics were made public. He had said he planned to teach a course about intelligent design to serve as a “slap” in the “big fat face” of religious fundamentalists. He also made disparaging remarks about Catholics.

The e-mails were collected by someone who gained access to the mailing list. That message found its way to a conservative, who forwarded it to the media and to others.

Baym says the ethics of being a “mole” on a mailing list – that is, subscribing to a group that you don’t believe in – are subject for debate. But it’s a common practice, especially in politics, and can help spark lively e-mail discussion.

“It doesn’t mean you don’t state your case,” Baym says. “It means you might expect it to end up on the front page of the paper.”

Marynell Jones is familiar with those issues. As KU’s student body vice president, she administers the Student Senate mailing list. During the campus election season, she also administers an e-mail group for her coalition, KUnited.

She tells coalition members not to post anything about strategy in their e-mails. The list is intended only for coalition members, but moles still are possible.

“There’s no real way to guard against it,” she says. “Whatever information we put on the Listserv, we consider public information.”

A few years ago, the Student Senate mailing list was home to spirited debate about campus politics.

“The past few years, we’ve encouraged people not to debate things over the Listserv,” she says. “The meaning and tone is lost in the e-mail, and a lot of times it got kind of personal. People thought, ‘I can say anything I want and not have any repercussions.'”

E-mail does suffer from issues with context and tone, Baym says, and some people might be more apt to fire off an angry e-mail than they would be to confront someone face to face. She’s surprised how often faculty members receive rude or presumptuous e-mails from students, for instance.

Her advice? Take time, think about what you’re saying and whom you’re saying it to.

“When we speak, we don’t speak to our boss the same way we talk to a friend after work,” Baym says. “Why, in e-mail, do we think we can talk the same way?”

Netiquette tips

Here is a collection of e-mail etiquette and privacy rules suggested by www.emailreplies.com, a Web site dedicated to Netiquette.

¢ Be concise and to the point. Keep sentences to 15-20 words maximum.
¢ Always use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.
¢ Use templates for frequently used responses, but keep e-mails personal.
¢ Answer swiftly. E-mails should be answered within 24 hours.
¢ Do not overuse the high-priority option. Don’t overuse “urgent” or “important” in the subject line.
¢ Do not write in CAPITALS: It seems like you’re shouting.
¢ Don’t leave out the message thread. Include previous messages for reference.
¢ Read the e-mail before you send it.
¢ Do not overuse “reply to all.”
¢ Take care with abbreviations and emoticons. Your recipient might not know what they mean.
¢ Do not forward virus hoaxes and chain letters.
¢ Do not ask to recall messages. Chances are your message already has been delivered and read anyway. Just send an e-mail admitting you made a mistake.
¢ Do not use e-mail to discuss confidential information. If you don’t want your e-mail posted on a bulletin board, don’t send it.
¢ Don’t send or forward e-mails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.