Index

The electronic mail known as E-mail, Email, e-mail, email and the opposite of snail mail, most people's peaceful introduction to the Internet, is increasingly popular for good reason. Written on computers and carried across computer networks around the world, E-mail transcends time and distance with remarkable ease. Using E-mail, I've "commuted" to work in South America, queried engineers in Japan, and kept up with cousins in the Middle East.

E-mail is particularly useful for everyone from home-office workers and the homebound to far-flung business teams in different time zones. Women do know all these ways of life. So why have I seen even one aspiring Wirette wrinkle her nose at the emergence of E-mail?

Live Wire naturally expects all her readers to embrace electronic life with enthusiasm. However, for those who shun E-mail because of its association with the computer, she wants you to know that sending and receiving E-mail requires almost no technical skill.

Not that there's anything wrong with it.

For the daunted, here is a short beginner's guide:

I kid you not: If these steps sound remarkably similar to those involved in opening one's box of engraved lavender-scented stationery, inscribing an address drawn from one's art-laden address book, and jotting one's most tender sentiments with a fine feathered quill -- oh, and while I'm at it, slipping on one's satin slippers and padding delicately to one's mailbox while the dew is still fresh -- it's because they are. Minus (much to my relief) the Martha Stewart niceties.

Everything else about comes down to E-mail's "interface," the program that handles the creation and transmission of your letters, and to netiquette, the unwritten rules of behavior that govern online correspondence. You can easily master both.

First, the interface. Whether your E-mail program comes to you at work, in the form of popular "messaging" software such as Lotus Notes or in something rigged up by your I/S department, whether it comes with an online service or is "bundled" with your Internet package (I got Eudora), your E-mail program is likely to be easy to follow.

You'll see icons (pictures) that represent your E-mail "address book" or Rolodex, where you list your correspondents' real names, computer addresses, and "nicknames" that automatically translate into addresses. Which is useful when your beau awaits at grok4785@whitherthou.com

You'll click on a "button" or a word command to create a blank on-screen page. Fill out the subject line with something pithy like, "I want my money NOW," and type in your note. Then hit the "send" button or command, and, if your computer is connected to the Internet, away we go.

Opening mail is similarly simple. Whenever you're connected to the Internet, at times that you tell it to check for mail, your E-mail software will fetch what's new to your "in-box." At this point, you don't need connection in order to read and compose a reply, important to remember if you pay for your connection time.

E-mail is growing more sophisticated. You can make mailing lists, instantly reply, copy and even blind-carbon copy recipients, forward jokes (probably the biggest and most annoying use of that particular command), "filter" incoming mail so you can check less important missives at a later time, sort your mail into designated folders, and more-all the equivalents of an active paper correspondence.

And just as on paper, there's a record. This is the biggest thing you must know about E-mail. It only seems invisible. Why only a few short years ago, a local fellow named Oliver North got in trouble when his E-mail revealed some dirty dealings. And one big corporate CEO-I should say, ex-CEO-was publicly embarrassed when his closed-door comments about cranky employees swept through the company's E-mail.

As ever, good manners and good sense go hand in hand. Some Live Wire "Do's" for E-mail.

Do check E-mail daily and respond within a reasonable time. Regular E-mail users (like, maybe your boss) expect consistency and speed.

Do be polite; remember that lacking facial expression and vocal tone, your notes may seem abrupt.

Do make your E-mail habits clear to colleagues and friends, to set and satisfy their expectations.

Do acknowledge the people you know who take the time to send you E-mail; nothing's more frustrating than wondering if the darn thing got there.

Do keep things short and to the point; the only thing worse than wordy obfuscation on paper is wordy obfuscation on the screen.

And now some Live Wire "Don'ts":

Don't send anything you wouldn't want on record. All your words are saved, or "archived," on the main computer-which may belong to your employer. What's more, recipients can widely circulate your missive (like, around the world), so count to 10 before spouting off.

Don't treat readers to sloppy spelling and grammar you would not allow in print. They'll think you're boorish, not busy.

Don't shout online, which you will if you TYPE IN ALL CAPS. Set off *key* words with stars, or draw on your vocabulary and best powers of expression. Use "emoticons," those pesky, perky faces :) made of keyboard symbols. (And if it's really that important, why aren't you calling?)

Don't forward junk mail and don't forward serious-sounding petitions unless you check their validity.

That said, E-mail is a perfectly suitable medium for conveying scads of information with a smidgen of emotion. In fact, so far I've unseated only one main limitation, a shortcoming only at home: you can't seal E-mail with a kiss.