E-nough of poor e-mail etiquette

Writing has long been a measure of intelligence, station and education. Reading a well-crafted letter, essay or novel is a pleasure. Lately, however, that pleasure has been fleeting.

Post-it Notes, text messaging and e-mail are contributing more and more to the destruction of our ability to write clean, coherent thoughts. No longer do we feel obliged to write complete sentences, well-organized arguments or even follow the basic rules of capitalization and punctuation. We know them, while at the same time find these rules increasingly convenient to ignore.

I receive dozens of e-mail messages each day; some are letters to the editor and others contain general queries for information. Most, however, fail to rise above the level of being an electronic Post-it Notes rather than correspondence sent to a business with the expectation of being taken seriously.

Apparently, capitalization, punctuation and coherent thought do not exist in cyberspace.

“What’s the deal?” is all one e-mail reads.

It is phrased correctly, yet if this person is looking for any specific information, it eludes me. I sent him the formula for calculating a quarterback rating. It may not be what the writer is looking for, but has to come in handy at some point.

Others are occasional quick notes taking the Frontiersman to task on a typographical error or the misuse of a word (some of these are themselves riddled with errors). I welcome and encourage these notes. The difference between an error in the newspaper and an error-laden e-mail is effort. A “typo” is a misspelling or wrong word that slips through despite the safeguards put in place to catch it. Every paper has them, and every paper hates them. The challenge is to minimize through diligence. E-mail has taken the diligence out of the equation. A person sending a letter to a person will read and reread that letter before putting it in an envelope. With e-mail, there’s no checking or correction. Press “send” and it’s out of mind.

The Internet has become an excuse to be lazy with language. What many fail to realize is e-mail is still mail — it is written correspondence and as such should reflect as professional and personal a demeanor as possible or appropriate.

Sending a quick note to your brother in Buffalo? Sure, be as lazy as you like. He won’t care, and his response will likely be returned in kind. When contacting a business, it never hurts to be professional. Without your smiling face staring at someone over the counter, that e-mail may be the only impression you’ll make. Make it a good one.

Greg Johnson is managing editor for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.