[nukkad] How to Write Effective Mailing List Email [lengthy yet useful].

[Mohammed Siddiqui <>]

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I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream. 
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How to Write Effective Mailing List Email.

                           By Matthew Haughey

   With every passing day, increasing numbers of people are becoming web
       designers. One of the main forums for communication among web
   designers, both beginners and experts alike, is the mailing list. Most
           mailing lists generate a substantial stream of useful,
      information-laden email, and the good ones enjoy a healthy gift
    economy. I'm subscribed to a small handful of web-related discussion
   lists, and the busier ones average 20-40 messages per day. My favorite
    list contains more useful information in a month's worth of postings
     than any best selling web design book. Even when I'm not asking or
     answering a question, I can follow fascinating threads, picking up
     useful tidbits, and build rich archives of searchable information.
    When I ask a question, no less than two or three expert answers will
      appear within a few hours. The people that read lists are often
            successful designers and busy experts in our field.

       Yet even the best lists have their share of problems. I could
     pontificate all day on the nature of interpersonal communication,
   conduct, and netiquette, but instead I want to focus on email content
                                formatting.

                      Why is formatting so important?
   The sum of my personal, work-related, and web discussion list mail is
   about 100-150 messages per day. In order to get through that deluge, I
     automatically filter every message into one of several categories,
   then into one of about 20 folders within each category. Even though I
    organize all my messages, going through a mailing list folder's 20+
       new messages becomes a chore when most messages are improperly
   formatted. A properly formatted message is easy to read. It's easy to
   respond to, and is most likely to be read by everyone and answered in
                             a timely fashion.

                      So how do I format my messages?
    There are several rules you can follow to improve the readability of
    your mailing list messages. The best place to start is to first read
   "[8]The Beginner's Guide to Effective email" (don't let the name fool
     you, a seasoned expert could learn something from it as well). In
      addition to the information covered in that document, there are
    several other things to keep in mind that are specific to web design
                               mailing lists.

                                 1. Quoting
    Quote messages properly. The guide referenced above has [9]a pretty
   good explanation of proper quoting (scroll down the page about halfway
   for the section on quoting). Basically, when you're going to answer a
   question, hit reply on your email client, then delete every bit of the
   original post except for their question. Make your quoting as short as
     possible, but enough to properly explain the question. If someone
   explained their problem in two paragraphs and then wrote a question at
   the end, I delete it all except for the question and maybe a sentence
    or two from the explanation. I like to quote enough of a question so
     that someone that has missed the original post can figure out what
                someone was asking and see my answer below.

   Proper trimming and quoting is especially true for digest versions of
    a mailing list. Some folks choose to receive a single message with a
    day or a few days' posts on them. It seems to happen once a month or
   so, but someone will reply to the digest version, leaving all messages
       quoted. Everyone on the list will have to download and read a
     60kb-100kb message just to read someone's comments, and worse yet,
    that post will go in the next day's digest, compounding the problem.

   Also remember to trim the ends of messages off. Most all mailing lists
    append every message with a special signature. This may be a couple,
    to several lines of text. If you ever catch yourself responding to a
   question and leaving that footer in, before you hit send, ask yourself
   why. If it conveys no additional information, as your answer will have
      it appended as well, why include it? It is useless and should be
    trimmed when replying (remember, your reply will carry a copy of the
   footer too, so if it's useful once, it's useless when displayed two or
                                more times).

                           2. Top Down Formatting
    When you read a question in a message and want to answer it, you hit
   reply and your cursor is usually at the top of a new message, with the
    original quoted below. If you start typing, your answer is displayed
       above the original. In fact, every email client I've ever used
   encourages you to write text above an original message when replying.
   Why is that? This is probably the most important point I want to make.
   Don't write replies above the original message, ever. Compose replies
                        below the original message.

      Imagine this example: if you left a note on the fridge for your
   roommates saying "When is the rent due?" and someone responded "On the
    first of the month, stupid", would they write it above or below your
   original question? How do people on this planet read text? Some do it
    left-to-right, some right-to-left, but when it comes to the vertical
                direction, everyone reads from the top down.

   There's nothing more time consuming for me than to read an email that
                              looks like this:


From: sara@biggercompany.com
To: matt@bigcompany.com

Sounds great. Sure, I'd love to go

> Sara - I have some of the mockups ready for the new Acme Designs
> Website. I have a meeting with the producer and one of the client
> reps tomorrow downtown. I'll be near your office building, do you
> want to meet to discuss our web-based project over lunch? What
> time is best for you?
>
> Matt

      Reading a message like that requires me to remember the question
   asked, and in what context. If I can't remember, I have to scroll down
     read my original post (if the recipient included it, this is even
     worse when they don't include the original in replies). Reading a
   answer like this, after scrolling down to read the question, then back
   up for the answer is time consuming and if I get a few dozen messages
    like this a day, I won't have time for much more than reading email.
   Often times, a short answer such as Sara's email will miss some of the
    questions in the original post. Proper formatting could solve these
              problems and make life easier for both parties.

   That same message would be so much easier on the reader if Sara would
                          have sent it like this:


From: sara@biggercompany.com
To: matt@bigcompany.com

At 12:15PM, on Monday Dec. 3, 1999, Matt wrote:
> I'll be near your office building, do you
> want to meet to discuss our web-based project over lunch?

Sounds great. Sure, I'd love to go

>What time is best for you?

My schedule is free in the afternoon, just give me a call at 555-1212 - Sara

                           3. HTML/richtext email
   My current email reader can display HTML email, but it's not a browser
     and doesn't do a very good job of it. I can quickly notice when an
   email comes in with HTML formatting because the fonts will usually be
    too small or in a serif family that contrasts to the big sans-serif
   font I read mail with. Sometimes an email message looks perfectly fine
        except for a silly signature font, or even a small picture.

     There are numerous reasons why HTML email is bad, but on a mailing
     list, you want as many people to read your message as possible. To
     meet that goal, you have to go for the lowest common denominator,
    plain text. Some people may be using PINE or some other Unix mailer
   that displays HTML as code, with a message buried deep inside code. A
     busy mailing list member confronted with this situation will just
   delete your mail, or more likely, ignore and move onto more accessible
    messages. HTML email also means that your two-kilobyte text message
   can quickly balloon into a 15-kilobyte file that everyone on the list
     has to download. Having an HTML-aware email application also means
    that sending code can be buggy. A mailing list is a natural place to
     ask questions about JavaScript functions or how to troubleshoot a
      difficult table, but many email readers will parse code, leaving
        readers with malformed messages or blank screens filled with
                             JavaScript errors.

       If you have any doubts about how to turn off all special email
   formatting in your email client, try checking the [10]Rootsweb site's
    [11]How to Turn OFF HTML or RTF in Various E-mail Software Programs
                                  article.

                              4. Reply length
   It's also important to think about the length of your replies. All too
    often, I'll see short, single sentence replies to complex questions,
     or short thank you notes to people that posted answers. If you're
   sending a reply to a list that's only a sentence long, ask yourself if
   it's appropriate before sending. When list members get a new message,
   it takes some effort to read that message. If the answer is a shot in
    the dark, or so brief to have to be explained in subsequent emails,
   something is wrong. Also, thank you notes don't really benefit any of
    the list members besides the person that answered the question. Send
    those thank you notes off list, directly to the person that answered
                               the question.

                               5. Signatures
       Signature files are generally a good thing, usually conveying
    additional contact information or a URL that other list members can
    look at to get a better idea of who that person is. Your sig can let
   others know what you've been up to lately, what new sites you've done,
     and what site you call home. Signature files become a problem when
   they are excessively long, taking up much of a message's space. First
      off, remember to keep them less than 80 characters in width, to
    prevent the text from wrapping. A safe number for non-wrapping text
    would be in the range of 70-72 characters. Try to keep signatures in
     the three-to-six line range of length. When a sig file takes up 12
   lines of text, and the original message is just a sentence or two, it
    becomes hard to separate the message from the signature. Originally,
    sig files were kept short to keep bandwidth down. With the advent of
   faster networks, this isn't much of a problem anymore, but it's still
    important to keep a short sig file to keep your messages concise and
                          as readable as possible.

                              Closing Thoughts
   If you consider these tips the next time you participate in a mailing
   list discussion, I guarantee more people will read and understand your
   messages, leading to more and better answers from other members. These
    tips will also make you a more considerate list member, as you'll be
   saving people time and keeping your bandwidth use low. Enjoy and good
                              luck out there.
Source:
http://www.digital-web.com/tutorials/tutorial_1999-12.shtml 

---------
Mohammed  Siddiqui 





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