Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!
Transcript
Hi, everyone. Leo Notenboom here for askleo.com. Earlier today, Seth Godin, a respected internet journalist, entrepreneurial type and someone that I pay attention to and follow, posted a list of ten tips that he actually targeted at people are coming to technology for the first time. The target he’s laid out was newbies, essentially, people maybe entering the business world or going to back to school this fall or whatever.
As I read through his list, I realized that you know, they really apply to everyone. They really could apply to just about anyone who’s, even myself, who’s been on the internet forever. It’s a good reminder. So what I want to do today is run down, essentially my version, of that list of his and just sort of act as a reminder as you maybe go back to school or go back to work after the holiday or whatever.
Number one. Don’t hit “reply all” unless you mean it. This is one of those mistakes that crop up from time to time and in fact, once again, there was an article published in the New York Times where someone basically sent a message to a large list unintentionally and people didn’t understand why they were on that list so they all started “replying all” to say, “Take me off this list”.
That’s not the thing to do. That’s not the way to do it. It ended up bringing the mail servers to a halt because of the overload of everybody sending all of those messages. It actually harkens back to a day, this actually, this same thing happened at Microsoft. Ask any old-time Microsoftie about something called Bedlam DL3 and they will tell you that’s exactly what happened.
Somebody set up a test mailing list, mistakenly sent something out to the entire company and one by one, lots and lots of people started “replying all” and the mail servers all crashed. It took, I think, two days to recover from that. So, it’s not just about mail server load, of course. You don’t necessarily want your reply to go to everyone, nor should your reply necessarily apply to everyone. Just do it when you mean it and make sure you are paying attention when you do.
Number two. Be sure you mean it when you hit “send”. You can’t unsend and email. You can’t get it back. I have articles on this. This is one of those topics that comes up from time to time. Once messages are sent, they are completely out of your control. Make sure you mean it when you hit “send”.
Number three. If you can, and there are reasons why it might be the right thing to do, but for the most part, don’t type in all caps. The problem is that all caps means shouting. It just does. Now the problem with that, of course, is that when I, for example, read a message that’s written in all capital letters, I read it as if someone is shouting at me.
That shouldn’t necessarily do that but that’s the way it comes across. And unfortunately, what that means is that’s going to color my reaction to that message. It’s not just me. This is industry wide. This is internet wide. When people get messages that are typed in all upper case, they will react to those messages as if they are being shouted at.
And rarely is that the reaction you’re really looking for. Now, after having published an article on this very topic called, “Why is everybody on the internet so grumpy?” the feedback I got from at least one person was that they choose to use all caps for vision reasons because it’s easier or better for them to read. I’ve two responses to that. One is there are potentially other solutions. Things like making the font bigger, using a higher contrast color scheme, those kinds of things but those aren’t necessarily options for everybody.
So I’ve two suggestions for you if you must type in all caps. One, remember people are going to react as if you’re shouting at them. Just be aware of that and two, especially for people that you correspond with frequently or maybe people that you don’t, just let them know, you’re not shouting; you’re typing in all caps because of this issue. They’re still going to at a very visceral, very emotional level, it’s really strange when I read these things, it’s a very deep-seated feeling, when you read a message in all caps, it’s like you’re being shouted at. There’s just no way around it.
Number four. Don’t buy anything from a stranger who contacts you. So by that I mean, and this is something that happens all the time especially via phone and on the internet. If someone reaches out to you and you’ve never heard of them, hang up. Delete the mail. Do whatever. Instead, if something is going to be legitimate, A) You should already know who they are and why they are contacting you or you should be contacting them and if there’s any objection to you saying, “Hey, I don’t know who you are or let me, this is a bad time, let me contact your company myself so that I can initiate the transaction, the sale, the whatever.” If there’s any objection to that, that’s even another sign that it’s probably not everything it’s supposed to be.
Never, ever purchase from strangers who contact you. Always be the one who initiates the contact so that you know who it is you are talking to.
Number five. It’s kind of a harsh reality and I don’t necessarily agree with it as an absolute statement but it’s a great way to think about the internet. Everything you do online is being recorded somewhere. Now like I said, I don’t necessarily agree with that, but enough of it is true, it’s true enough that you should act accordingly. Don’t do something online; don’t say something online; don’t share something online that you would not be completely happy with appearing on the front page of your local newspaper.
That’s a great rule of thumb. Assume that everything is being recorded and assume that there’s a risk that it will go public. That’s the safest approach you can take.
Seth Godin didn’t get to this until number six. For me, honestly, it’s number one and if I say that, you probably know what it is already. Back up. Back up your data, back up your computer; back up what’s on your phone. If a picture, if a file, if a whatever is in only one place, it’s not backed up. If you were to lose your phone and everything on it was only on your phone, it’s gone forever. Period.
On the other hand, if you had second copy, maybe in the Cloud, maybe on your computer, wherever, it doesn’t really matter, then you don’t have this risk of suddenly losing lots of important information because you lost your phone, because your hard disk failed or something like that. Back up. You know this. I’ve been saying it for years.
Number seven. When in doubt, reboot and this applies, in his list, he mentions it as number seven, reboot your computer, remember your phone is a computer, your camera is a computer, your TV is a computer, your DVR is a computer. All of these devices are computers. If something’s acting up and not acting properly, reboot it. It’s the very first thing that almost any technician is going to suggest you do.
It’s just the nature of technology that a lot of different things get cleaned up and cleared up and reset to a better state simply by rebooting them. And in his continuation, he says, “You know, if that doesn’t work then visit your favorite search engine (Duck Duck Go, in his case) and search. There’s a really, really good chance that people, other people are already out there experiencing whatever problem it is you’re having and may in fact already have a solution or a work around or at least can share some sympathy with whatever the issue you have is.
Number eight. His point of view is to become an expert in something you need to do more than read the first link that shows up in a search result. I’m going to go deeper than that. You don’t necessarily want to be an expert in something that you’re searching on. You just want an answer. That’s why people show up at Ask Leo! I get that. But the first response or the first listing in Google, it may be helpful it may not. The second may or may not.
Do some research. Take the time to look at multiple answers for whatever it is you’re researching be it a computer problem or be it just some information or some news information, look at multiple sources to see if there’s a consensus on the kind of answer you’re looking for; if the solution is what you need it to be. Especially when it comes to rumors and news and oh my gosh kind of, especially on social media postings that are just highlighting the most recent supposed atrocity by so and so, check Snopes.
Go to Snopes.com to check for urban legends, false information, there’s so much of it out there right now. Sites like Snopes and others are a great resource to make sure that before you react without rage to some story you’ve read, make sure you’re not reacting to something that is actually completely bogus. Not only does it make, give that story way too much legitimacy but it doesn’t really reflect all that well on you when it’s later pointed out that you just got all upset by a fake story.
Number nine. Be generous. Offer to help a community, like he says three times or so, before you turn in and ask for help from that same community. Give more than you get. It’s not, it’s a variation of the Golden Rule but it is something that I think applies really, really strongly. Give more than you get and you will get more than you expect.
Number ten. This is really a follow on to number eight where I talk about checking with Snopes. Don’t believe everything you read online. In fact, don’t believe most of it. Everybody has an agenda; they really do and when they’re presenting information, they color that information with whatever agenda it is that they have. Take the time to research it if you can. Be skeptical at least when you read anything online.
And a bonus number eleven, be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Kindness goes a long, long way.
So, what are your suggestions to add to this list? What kind of tips would you give either as refreshers to people who just have been at this for a long time, like me, or to people who are just entering their online world for the first time be it online in business, online in school or even online after having lived a life offline and now coming to understand all of the wonderful things we can do in our internet and connected world.
As always, here’s a link to this article out on askleo.com. This is where we actually allow you to post comments; it’s where we moderate the comments to keep the trolls out and every comment is read. I really, really appreciate all of them. Until next week, I’m Leo Notenboom for askleo.com. Remember, have fun, stay safe and don’t forget to back up. Take care.
The Tips
- Don’t hit “Reply All” (unless you mean it)
- Be sure you mean it when you hit “Send” (There’s no “un-send”.)
- DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS (all caps means shouting – it just does)
- Don’t buy from a stranger that contacts you (phone or email)
- Assume EVERYTHING is being recorded (and act accordingly)
- BACK UP!1
- When in doubt: reboot
- Do the research! (It’s more than the first link in a search result)
- Give more than you take
- Don’t believe everything you read online
and a bonus:
- Be kind. – “Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
Do this:
Subscribe to Confident Computing! More confidence & less frustration -- solutions, answers, & tips -- in your inbox every week.
I'll see you there!
ANOTHER GREAT ARTICLE!! THANKS!!
*chortle*titter*
🙂 🙂 🙂
Hi Leo,
Please relax. We need you for a long time.
Uri
Having had a computer in my home since 1984 (and I still know how to issue DOS commands!), I have been well aware of all of the things you mentioned. I do have a comment on the one about not using all caps. I have an old friend who suffered a major stroke a half dozen years ago. It affected her sight in a strange way; she can see, but only to the right and left of center, and then it’s blurry (there’s a complicated name for it it that I don’t remember). The end result relative to emails is that she requests that all emails sent to her use a black 18pt ALL CAPS font on a yellow background. To a normal-sighted person, this is shouting on steroids, but for her, it’s the only way she can read the emails. I’m certain there are many others around the globe with the same issue, and all caps is the remedy for their problem.
As I said, I totally understand that this is a necessity for some (though, again, I’d look for other options as well). What’s most important is that your friend realize that people will react a certain way to reading her mails and there’s nothing that she can do (other than apologize every time, and even that doesn’t stop the visceral reaction). There’s no way to change the reception of those messages.
On #1 (Don’t hit Reply All):
If you got that email thru, say, Google Groups, and you belong to that group, a simply ‘Reply’ will also go to all members of the group. You have to take the time to replace the Group address with the specific person for this email, or it goes to the entire group. To leave the group, you’ll either have to log in to group registration and cancel, or contact whoever set up the group.
Hello Leo and everyone,
Another suggestion I would add to the list is, Don’t be afraid to ASK! Ask a question, ask for help, ask for advice. There are people out there that know more than each of us, and if we don’t inquire them, we may never find out those things that may be essential to our “computer-well-being”. I for one loved to be asked (have been in the computing and software business for 40+ years), just so I can strain my brain, help others, and even learn something myself – which I probably do every day. The only “bad” question is the one that does not get asked.
Keep up the great endeavors! Vicki
And Ask Leo! 🙂 or ask Google.
As they used to say at work. “There are no stupid questions, only stupid mistakes.”
Or, as the old adage goes, “The only stupid question is the one that isn’t asked, but there’s no limit on the number of stupid answers, so be really darn careful.” I think that’s how it went. 😀 (See Leo’s Tips 8 & 10.)
Actually, it’s not true that there are no stupid questions. I see them daily. For example, “Where did my emails go?” with no reference to which email program or webmail website, which OS or what they were doing when the emails were lost.
Mark, you are sooo right – there are stupid questions, mostly from folks who are too lazy to read or search for answers themselves. These folks want others to do the work and find answers for them. But Leo’s “be kind” tip applies to them as well. We can all benefit from kindness.
Thank you so much Leo for yet another big help from you to all of us newbies (and as you say, reminders to the savvy)! The only thing I’d add to this list is to use BCC when sending to multiple people. It’s irritating to receive so many addresses, (many with 6 or 7 additional lines of phrases) so that one has to scroll down, many times interminably, to get to the message…..and it wasn’t even important enough to warrant all of this trouble! Another bad thing of using the TO instead of the BCC is that it endangers all those addresses being free to hackers and other just mean jerks for the asking. It’s incredible how those people persist in doing it despite that from time to time someone says “Please remove all addresses before forwarding!”
THANK YOU again for all your help!!! :o)
BCC’s always one of the first things I teach my students.
https://askleo.com/how_do_i_hide_the_email_addresses_im_sending_to_on_a_message/
I’d add to your promotion of healthy skepticism that “do not buy anything from a stranger unless you initiated the contact” and “don’t believe everything you read/hear/see/whatever” apply far beyond our online dealings. Don’t buy from that vacuum-cleaner salesman who comes to the door (yes, an actual vacuum-cleaner salesman has appeared at my door in the last year or so). Don’t assume that any salesperson has your best interests at heart when they tell you which model to buy (this is very true for purveyors of investment instruments!). Don’t automatically believe your newspaper. Don’t automatically believe TV newscasters. Don’t automatically believe what your neighbor tells you over the back fence. Really, really, really NEVER automatically accept the premise that there is any truth in advertising!
Looking for multiple sources of information, and opening transactions ourselves when we want to buy something (rather than allowing others to open those transactions) will stand us in good stead in every arena.
Okay, so on the all caps issue, surely there is some (simple?) solution that exists or that could be programmed that would make the font, color, size, background color, etc., the way the person writing/reading it requires for their particular circumstance or preference? Seems like there could be something like that built into browsers and/or email readers that could do that. Then everyone would be happy, at least about this. Seems like there should be no reason for anyone to have to suffer on either end of this.
What I’m about to say next, for the record, is just a bit of silly teasing. I realize that it’s fairly common for the font of a web site’s title on the page to be in all caps. I notice that this is the case with “Ask Leo!” I mean, there it is, right there at the top of the page, not only in all caps, but with an exclamation point to boot. Why, it’s almost like you’re instructing us to shout our questions to you, Leo! *DaRfC*
On a web page a designer can create fonts in many ways. Headlines are often done this way, and yes, it’s done with programming in a stylesheet. It’s very easy to turn text into all-caps. It’s not easy to turn all-caps into regular typing – because that takes much more complex programming.
It can be done in email as well, but it’s not as easy. Some email clients also allow a person to style the html they send – though there can never be any guarantee what the recipient will see on the other end. The bottom line is that it can become so complex that it can easily end up in a giant mess. In the end experienced web designers learn that keeping things as simple as possible is the best strategy. So bottom line is to keep that all-caps typing to a minimum.
Yep, that’s my logo. (Trademarked and all.)
CTRL-plus is a fairly standard way to make the font larger in most email programs and browsers.
Hotmail and Outlook Express, and presumably others, allow settings to defer delivery by a user-specified number of minutes. This can be for one email or all. It can be bypassed with a “send immediately” button.
I have that feature on my phone, and it might be good to stop that occasional impulsive email from being sent, but nothing beats a little self control. Type your email, stop think it over, then send.
In paragraph 3 you had a GREAT opportunity, at the end, to demonstrate a SHOUT.
He did it in the summary.
“3. DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS (all caps means shouting – it just does)”
A potential slight spelling error:
“And a bonus number eleven, be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know noting about.” Noting?
Maybe you should add: Proofread what you write before transmitting. (;
We do proofread. Sadly, we remain imperfect humans. (Thanks for the note – fixed it.)
“To error is Human”. It’s just some (like me) seem to be more human than others. (;
I would add that Snopes can be a good resource, but they also have a bias and aren’t always completely forthcoming in their assessments.
They’ve been accused of bias over and over and over again – usually by people with agendas that are, to put it politely, not in alignment with facts. This so-called bias has, itself, been debunked time and time again by other third parties. Bottom line: no one is perfect, but Snopes is pretty darned good.
Good list Leo. When it comes to emails and new people entering the business world, it’s good to learn some “good practices”. These may seem silly when you’re a newbie, but they’ll pay off as you move up in the world. Here is my list of good email practices:
(a) Always write a subject line for the email.
(b) Do read the entire text of a received email before replying or acting. The subject line wasn’t meant to be the entire email. It’s embarrassing when the sender points out that he or she already addressed your issue in the original email – which you never read.
(c) NEVER send an email with just the subject line and no text in the email body. You do that a few times and your emails won’t be opened.
(d) When you’re feeling pressured or perturbed, write your email (or reply), but don’t sent it. Save it and read the next day before sending. Chances are that you’ll decide to tone it down.
(e) Sometimes in the chain of replied and forwarded emails the subject matter morphs and changes. Take the time to change the subject line or add to it. Also, take the time to pare down the list of recipients who will no longer be interested in the new topic.
(f) Use proper English and complete sentences. If you write like you speak, don’t expect people to understand you (they don’t see your expressions, hand gestures or hear your voice intonation). If you’re not understood, you won’t be heard – and eventually you’ll be ignored. To err may be human, but too many of such “errs” and you’re unprofessional. To say another way: Forget your smart phone texting habits for (business) emails.
(g) When sending an email to a large number of people, introduce the topic and say why you are including all of them in the email. Not everyone has been following your hallway conversations.
(h) If you want something from someone, state that explicitly. Ask a question or tell them to do something. If you’re sending an email for information, then say this is FYI only – no action is required. As a corollary, if you’re describing something and expect the recipients to reach a conclusion, then explicitly state the conclusion that you want ALL the recipients to reach.
(i) If your topic is complex and has a lot of data associated with it, don’t just cut and paste a large volume of gibberish into your email and expect the receiver to decipher and understand it. Summarize the topic at the top of the email (like an executive summary) and say the details are attached.
(j) Never respond to an email with a one-word or brief reply, such as “Yes”, or “I understand”. This type of response gets lost in translation and the other guy is never sure what you understand or you’re saying a “yes” to which part of the original email.
Finally, even if you think you’re the big boss, do practice proper email communications, otherwise there is a good chance that you’ll look silly.
a&b) sometimes a good subject line might be “Please read the entire email before responding.” 🙂
That may help with a few, but there will still be those who respond without bothering to read the basic email, let alone the follow-on comments. I find this to be especially true of support people. I contact them about one thing, and they send a pre-written response about something else.
We see this even on Ask Leo. People ask questions that were covered in the article or comments.
Come on Old Man, that’s exactly why I wrote that, because of all the ridiculous questions we get, often people apparently simply copying and pasting in the title of the article.