Are you really authorized to forward e-mails? Of course, some will say depending on the content of the message whether it’s for your eyes only or for the general public. But in any form of communication like electronic mail or email, courtesy should always be considered before sending any information to another person. Courtesy may be in the form of asking permission from the author, or in acknowledging the original source of the message. It counts to be thoughtful in forwarding e-mails, but before making this effort, have a second thought and ask the following:
1. Is the message valuable?
- Does the message have accurate or complete information? One should consider the source of information, else, the message may be a hoax. To help you verify whether the message is a hoax, visit http://www.snopes.com.
- Is the message something that would be appreciated by the recipient? Would it meet the recipient’s needs?
- Humorous: As long as the recipient has the same sense of humor as you do; then it’s worth forwarding.
2. Is the message clear?
- In other words, are you sending a message that can be easily read by the receiver? Emails can either be retrieved through a Windows-based e-mail reader program like Outlook Express or Eudora, or as webmails such Yahoo!Mail or Gmail.com. These e-mails are also formatted depending on the type of Email server you have like your own web-based corporate email program (e.g. Squirrelmail) which may restrict or delete pictures or any other attachments. Be keen to notice some unnecessary characters which may mess up the structure of the email before forwarding it. As a word of advice, review and edit the message first or put a personal comment at the top before forwarding the message.
3. Does the message protect privacy?
- For announcements and chained-letter messages or other similar types of messages that will be sent to multiple recipients, it is a good practice to keep the privacy of the intended recipients’ email addresses. Instead of using Cc, use the Bcc (Blind copy furnish) field to forward messages to two or more email addresses. The Bcc box field will prevent email addresses from being published to others whom they do not know.
Always remember that forwarding emails is a nice way of sharing ideas. However, prudence must be observed when doing this. As a rule of thumb, do not forward e-mails from unknown authors or unverified sources, so you can help prevent the spread of non-sensible information. In addition, we can maintain a clog-free computer system by being careful in forwarding messages.
