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This page provides information on how to use email effectively.
Email is now the preferred method of communication for most Toastmasters apart from the telephone. You need to be aware of the security and other issues involved in using email.
SPAM email
Beware of responding to emails which appear to be legitimate or genuine but which may result in you being the target of spam and malicious attacks. In the past, a Toastmaster who receives club emails received an enquiry about joining the club which was responded to with an invitation to attend the next meeting. However the sender was not a legitimate enquirer, and has since proceeded to bombard the recipient with spam emails of a dubious and sometimes distressing nature. Please be very careful how you respond to email enquiries, and never give out your phone number or home address. If insufficient information is given in the enquiry email, without full names and contact phone numbers, then I would advise you not to respond immediately. While Xtra were informed they say there is nothing they can do to trace the sender.
All Toastmaster email is redirected via Death2Spam servers and all spam and viruses are filtered out.
Security
Many companies, organisations and government agencies are now putting in place extra security in their corporate email systems after a spate of malicious email viruses have disabled systems and cost a lot of money over recent months. Emails with too many names in the To: or CC: boxes are being automatically blocked, as well as any email detected as "spam" or with questionable content. Incoming emails with certain file types as attachments such as images, executable files and documents with macros are also being blocked.
Sending Emails
Here are some tips when sending emails which are Toastmaster business:
- Set up email groups and add your individual contacts to the group. Check your email's help system for instructions.
- Always put a sensible topic in the Subject line, such as "Toastmasters forward programme", or "Toastmasters announcement" etc. This allows any corporate systems administrator who may be vetting emails sent to work addresses to determine whether it is genuine or not.
- Never forward joke emails, chain letters, pictures, or other junk mail to Toastmasters. They are notorious for containing viruses and other hidden nasties and are complete time-wasters! You may unwittingly infect other people's systems.
- Save Word documents as rich text format (.rtf) if possible, or in a lower version of the application. This allows them to be opened by a wide variety of programs, and is useful for those who don't use Microsoft Office. Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) can be read by most systems too provided they have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed! Make sure you have the latest version of Acrobat if possible. Download Acrobat Reader.
- Use official District Officer or Club email address where possible. The email redirections will automatically send the email on to the correct person. These redirection accounts are stored on a webserver which has spam and virus filtering enabled to help protect people from infection or spam abuse.
- Set up an email signature block which gives your name, club and contact details, and your official District or Club email address (if appropriate). Include the Toastmasters New Zealand website address (www.toastmasters.org.nz) in your signature block.
- Keep your anti-virus software up to date. It's a small price to pay for protection, peace of mind, hassle, cost, and downtime!
Receiving Emails
Here are some tips when receiving emails which are Toastmaster business:
- Make sure you have your preview pane turned off in your email program. By having it on, this is the same effect as reading the email, and if it contains a virus, you're done for! Check your Help system to find out how to do this.
- Always check the email is from a reputable source before opening it. If you're unsure and it looks suspicious, contact the sender if possible to verify its contents. Many email viruses now have randomly generated subject lines and may indicate they are from a trusted source when they are not. Any official correspondence from the Directory Officer or other District Officers should be suitably titled so that it is easily recognisable.
- Save any attachments to a specially named folder on your hard drive, and virus-check them before opening them. Some anti-virus software can be set to do the virus check during downloading. Use this if you can.
- Make sure that your virus checker is always up to date. Some anti-virus software can be set to check automatically for updates every time you are online - this should be used if possible, otherwise check at least weekly for updates. Alternatively, use an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that provides anti-virus checking as part of its service - it is well worth the $2.50 per month charged by at least one ISP.
- Set up a Toastmasters folder in your Inbox and move all incoming Toastmaster emails to this folder for easy reference.
- NEVER open any email with an attachment where the subject says things like "You've won!" or "You've gotta see this!" etc because they're designed to trap you into opening them, and therefore activating the virus, worm or trojan payload contained within the email. By then, it's too late! Do not even look at the message in the preview panel, as some viruses are designed to activate when this is done. If you are unsure, or your computer starts behaving strangely:
- Disconnect from the internet immediately.
- Record the subject line details and who the email was from.
- Delete the email, and delete it from your Deleted Items folder.
- Run your virus scanner and do a full system scan.
- If unsure, DO NOT reconnect to the internet until you have had your computer checked out by a qualified professional (or at least someone who knows what they're doing).
- If you don't have anti-virus software or you are still doubtful, go to a reputable anti-virus website such as Nortons or McAfee and search for any details such as the email header or the name of the file attachment. You should be able to find if the email is either a known virus or a known hoax.
Want to know more?
If you want to know more about viruses, worms, trojans and hoaxes, search on the web or go to a reputable anti-virus website such as Nortons or McAfee.
What about emails from District 72?
Any files sent by the Webmaster/Directory Officer as attachments will be in a suitable format able to be read by most software. However it is also your responsibility to ensure that your computer has adequate anti-virus software protection, and you should scan all incoming emails with attachments for viruses before opening them. (Or use an anti-virus service that ensures you don't receive any infected emails.)
District 72 takes no responsibility for your computer being infected with a virus from any emailed attachment. If you are unable to read attached documents, you should contact the sender. If you are unsure about your anti-virus protection, you should contact your local computer supplier for advice, or look on the internet.
Hot tips for Hotmail Accounts
District 72 prefers that District and Club officers do not use Hotmail accounts for receiving Toastmaster business because of the account size problems listed below. If you are using a Hotmail account, please check in frequently and clear out emails which you have read.
- There is a megabyte (MB) storage limit on all hotmail accounts.
- If your account exceeds the limit, it is automatically disabled.
- To enable your account again, you must reduce the amount of storage space your account is using.
- If an email is sent to you which takes your account over the limit, it will be returned to the sender undelivered.
- Your Hotmail account becomes inactive if you do not sign in for 30 days.
- Items in your Junk Mail folder are deleted after seven days.
- You can send one message to a maximum of 50 e-mail addresses or 1000 characters at once. These addresses can be distributed among the To, CC, or BCC lines, or they can all be on one line.
- Check Hotmail Help for more information and tips on how to manage your Hotmail email account.
Email etiquette
Email is an accepted informal method of communicating, but some basic rules of style or etiquette are expected:
- DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPS! This is perceived as SHOUTING!
- Consider carefully what you write; it's a permanent record and can be printed and easily forwarded to others.
- Write succinctly. Don't waste bandwidth. Email may be inexpensive to most people, but not to everyone.
- Check the size of files you wish to attach to an email before sending it. Don't attach large files without checking their formatting. Sometimes embedding incorrectly formatted images in Word documents, such as logos and clip art, can increase the file size dramatically.
- When including a website address in an email, always type it in the form of "http://οΎ…" because some email programs will permit the user to click on a web address to go straight to it. Without the "http://" prefix these programs will not recognize it as a website address.
- When forwarding or replying to email messages, put your comments at the TOP of the message, NOT the bottom.
- If your email is going to be quite long, consider using a word processing document and attach it to the email.
- Read over your email before you send it. Although email is a more informal method of communication than writing a letter these days, be sure you make your points clear and concise. Use a spell checker if available.
Want to know more?
Search on the internet in your favourite search engine for "email tips", "netiquette" and other relevant keywords. You'll find plenty of useful information.
The April 2005 edition of "The Toastmaster" magazine also has some excellent articles about online etiquette:
- "Mind your Online Manners" - how to write and handle emails
- "Get Blogging" - all about blogs
- "The Dos and Don'ts of Online Etiquette" - handy tips for using email, newsgroups and promoting yourself and products
- "Email Snubs" - more excellent advice about dealing with emails
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Email Horror Stories
Do you know of an email horror story worth sharing? Or perhaps you have some more tips everyone should know about! Send your stories and tips to webmaster@toastmasters.org.nz for inclusion on this page. |
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