January 6, 2010 | E-mail Forwarding Etiquette

As I sit in my room, avoiding the cold, below-freezing night outside, I’m looking at my various e-mail accounts and have found, much to my displeasure, that people don’t seem to grok proper etiquette when it comes to forwarding e-mails. As you may have surmised, a recent e-mail I was sent sparked this entry.

There are a few basic ground rules to forwarding e-mails that I abide by, which I would like to share with the Internet folk. Depending on where you are aligned on the etiquette spectrum, you may find this to be an affirmation to already existing habits or a wake-up call to develop new ones. (Remember: The brainiacs from various universities say that it takes 28 days of doing something to develop a habit.)

1. No Blind Forwarding

“Blind forwarding” is the term I use to describe the process of forwarding an e-mail to someone without actually explaining why you’ve forwarded it. Most of the problems I’ve encountered stem from this behavior.

Just because an e-mail makes sense to you does not mean that it makes sense to the person you’re forwarding to. Therefore, you should at least do one of the following:

1. As briefly as possible, explain why you are forwarding the e-mail.
2. If you’re looking for something specific to be understood/executed/reviewed, note that you’re: a) looking for something specific, and b) specify what you’re looking for.

The above two help tremendously, particularly when forwarding an e-mail to multiple people!

2. Don’t Betray Confidences

When forwarding an e-mail, ensure that it doesn’t betray any confidences or give out an e-mail of someone who doesn’t want their e-mail given out. This causes problems for all parties involved and, ultimately, rectification of any situations that may arise from such stupidity only wastes time and energy.

3. Don’t forward an e-mail just to give someone’s e-mail address to another person.

I’ve seen people forward an e-mail to others just to give someone the original sender’s e-mail address. People who do this are the same people who poke snarling, salivating dogs with sharp sticks and then wonder why they have that dog’s teeth puncturing their neck.

So… Why does this happen? I believe it to be sheer laziness. Only those who actually do this can answer with any sincerity.

The solution: Merely compose a new e-mail that introduces the people to one another properly. “Hey Joe, this is Jane. Jane, this is Joe. Joe is a fluffer. Jane works in accounting. You two will hit it off splendidly. Au revoir.“

Hope that was educational. Or at least mildly entertaining.

Now I need to e-mail Jane from accounting. Have a splendid day!