The 'Technologist'

1 Forwarding When forwarding email, strip out all unnecessary stuff. Most importantly, make sure there are no contact names, email addresses, or phone numbers of individuals who’ve previously received the message you are forwarding. NOTE: See the ‘NOTE TO ALL’ at the end of this article. Copy and paste it into your forwarded emails.
2 Subject ALWAYS include a pertinent subject. NEVER send a message with a blank subject. DON’T use the subject line as your message body.
3 Signature Do(s) Always use a signature that includes your name, along with any pertinent contact information such as phone, fax, cell, website (if different from your email domain). Since just about EVERYONE uses email as a main correspondence medium, it is considerate of you to make it easy for them to contact you.
4 Signature Don’t(s) Don’t include your email address. It is redundant information that is already easily obtained in the email document. Some feel differently about this, since there are those out there who don’t know how easy it is to extract the email address of the sender.
5 Attachments When sending attachments, make sure the filenames are complete with the “application specific extension”. This applies to Macintosh users as well, as they frequently ‘hide’ the extension. Most users have no clue what extension is required to allow them to open a document. For example, a Microsoft Word document would have a filename such as “projectproposal.doc”. Here is a link to the most comprehensive “application specific extensions” listing. Attachments should generally be limited to 1MB or less. Many email accounts have size limits for attachments, and larger attachments take longer to download. If the recipient is expecting a large attachment from you, then it is then acceptable to exceed 1MB. When in doubt, check with the recipient before sending.
6 Message Body Begin your message properly with a greeting that corresponds to the nature of the email. This generally means your message is either ‘Professional’, ‘Semi-professional’, or ‘Casual’. Use a spell checker! Just as you would try to use the proper pronunciation in any conversation, you should be diligent in your spelling…it tells so much about you. Use ‘caps’ sparingly. It is considered ‘yelling’ when you use all caps in an email message.
7 Pertinent to all Be cognizant of who you are sending your email to and address it accordingly. Be careful if you use your ‘Groups’ or ‘Distribution lists’ unless the message is pertinent to everyone in those lists. This goes for the use of ‘Reply to All’ as well.
8 To: CC: BCC: Properly use the ‘To:’, ‘CC:’, and ‘BCC:’ address boxes.
The ‘To:’ is for people you are directly addressing…those who your message is primarily intended for.
The ‘CC:’ is for those your message is indirectly intended for.
And the ‘BCC:’ is generally used for the same purpose as the ‘CC:’ except, since it is a ‘Blind Carbon Copy’ the ‘To:’ and ‘CC:’ recipients will be unaware of the ‘BCC:’ recipients. However, it is a great way for addressing all those jokes, videos, etc. that we all receive and want to share with our friends and co-workers without revealing their contact information to dozens of strangers.
9 Sent from If you are using your company email, everyone you send anything that might be perceived as ‘less-than-appropriate’ may associate it with your company. This is sometimes considered “Career suicide by email”. So beware. Use your private email account for such purposes. If you don’t have one, you can get a free one with gmail, yahoo, or hotmail. I prefer gmail, which is associated with Google, because they have a superior SPAM filter and the highest limit (in Gigabytes) for storage, and many other features.
10 Be an Example An insert, like the one below, can educate the recipients of the email you are sharing with your friends and co-workers by pointing out what YOU are doing to protect their privacy. Be a GOOD emailer, copy and paste the words below, into your next (and ALL future) forwarded email.

NOTE TO ALL: 
If you forward this email, please delete the forwarding history, which includes my email address!
It is a courtesy to me and others who may not wish to have their email addresses sent all over the world! 
Erasing the history helps prevent Spammers from mining addresses and viruses from being propagated.
THANK YOU!
As a courtesy to you, I used BCC:
to address this outgoing message
to hide your email address from others.