• Professional behaviour: Use professional email for professional purposes. Be responsible about what kind of websites you visit while at work. Don’t assume that these activities are not monitored!
• Respond promptly to all messages that need a response.
• Don’t put anything in an email that you wouldn’t want all your professional contacts to see. You never know what is going to be forwarded and to whom! Save juicy gossip or general cattiness for face-to-face conversations.
• Use a brief meaningful subject line, punctuated and capitalized appropriately.
• Make sure your system clock is set correctly and your system language is set to English.
• Use standard fonts and text colours.
• Be careful about choosing “reply all” vs. “reply”. Sometimes there are good reasons to have a discussion in an email chain but most of the time it’s annoying and awkward.
• Be careful about forwarding large attachments. Your COE project will have a Workspace folder that should be used instead of email for sharing project materials. It is essential that you not send anything sensitive by email. When in doubt, share files via Workspace.
• Keep emails to clients brief and to the point. If you’re emailing a busy executive, it’s ideal if you can set up your email so that a yes/no response is appropriate. Often the best use of email is to arrange a phone call or in-person meeting! Here is a list of specific things to keep in mind when emailing busy people.
• Don’t send emails when you’re angry. If you find yourself writing an email that starts, “You may not realize that I have feelings too, but…”, do three things: (1) finish the email, making it as long as you want; then (2) delete it without sending; then (3) when you’ve calmed down, send a new email that just says, “Can we meet in person to discuss this?”
• Always proofread your emails. Check for correct and professional punctuation too–using more than one exclamation point (total) in a business email will make you look childish. Don’t use text-message-style abbreviations.
• Use appropriate salutations, use the right form of address, and sign off professionally.
  • Salutations: The first time you email someone, “Dear Dr. Smith,” is appropriate. After that, “Hi Jane,” is fine. “Hey” is too casual.
  • The first time you email someone, use the correct title. Most people in professional settings in Vancouver will expect you to go to first names thereafter. Even then, be sure you’re addressing someone by their preferred first name, and don’t shorten it or use a nickname unless you know them extremely well.
  • The first time you email someone, use a more formal sign off like “Best regards,” then your name, and the COE standard signature. For later emails, less formal sign offs like “Best”, “Regards”, “All the best”, or “Thanks” are fine, and you don’t have to attach your signature to every single email. “Sincerely” and “Respectfully” are too formal for most situations. “Cheers” is very breezy. Omitting a sign-off and your name entirely is fine if you’re having a back-and-forth with someone about something mundane, but it can seem cold and abrupt otherwise.

This is a guide to asking questions on internet forums. Many of the principles also apply to other interactions when dealing with technical topics.