I've been replaying moldy oldies from previous years of blogging. Many of those posts have a political bent. Don't assume that my interests stop at politics. Over the years I've also written about technology. The following is the first article in my first technology blog.

'Tis better to remain silent and appear the fool...

... than to use poor judgment when sending e-mails and erase all doubt.

OK, most of us have made every mistake in the book when sending e-mails. However, most of those mistakes aren't good enough to keep repeating. Let's all resolve to do better this year.

Common e-mail blunders:

• Forwarding bad advice. You've seen these e-mails. They carry warnings about some virus that the sender may have accidently sent to you previously. To solve the problem, you have to delete some file from your computer... and you have to forward the e-mail to all of your friends. Don't follow the bad advice, and don't forward the e-mail. If the e-mail is a hoax, you wind up looking foolish. If the e-mail itself contains a real virus, then you just helped spread the problem.
  
  Smart actions:
  • Research possible hoaxes at such web sites as
    
    • Snopes
    • Symantec
    • Hoaxbusters
  • Get professional help.


• Sending inappropriate e-mails, especially to someone's office. 'Nuff said?


• Sending large e-mails, anytime, anywhere. Big files sent can cause your recipients a large amount of grief. Your e-mail could tie up the internet connection and/or computer for a long time; such e-mails could also overflow an inbox and cause a system crash. Do that, and your friends may not appreciate your humor.


• Leaving a list of e-mail addresses in a previously forwarded message. I don't want my e-mail address in circulation; if I want you to know my e-mail address, I'll tell you what it is. Please don't spread it around without permission. If you pass along an e-mail that's been forwarded from someone else, erase the list(s) of previous recipients.


• Not virus-scanning an e-mail before forwarding it. You don't use a virus-scanner? Are you crazy??? One of the best is free! Download.

Labels: e-mail, hoax, hoaxbusters, large e-mail, snopes, symantec, virus