Since I know that San Diego is one of the fastest growing Internet cities, I am assuming that one of the principal reasons you have a computer is for email.

Well, there are considerate email users and there are careless email users. Also, many are just not informed. Let’s try to help the uninformed:

Many of your incoming emails are "forwards," that is, forwarded to you by others. The inconsiderate or uninformed user, who wants to forward a forward, just clicks on the "forward" tool and lets it rip. What a mistake for a number of reasons: it is not safe, it can annoy your readers, and it is easy to correct. Computer classes say, "get rid of all that alphabet soup."

It is not safe, because a virus can easily spread to EVERY name on your email forwards. You don’t want to do that to your friends, and you don’t want them to do that to you.

I personally think it is rude to subject others to the maybe 3 or 4 forwards that come to you – each with a set of 20 to 50 names. By the time I scroll down to the message, I am ready to delete it out of frustration.

To correct it is easy. You cannot correct the message that comes to you, but if you "reply" or "forward" it, you can change it any way you want. All you do is highlight all the junk you don’t want to forward and "delete" it. And, some of the sentences are uneven, maybe with only a couple of words each line, so change it to be readable. You can do it easily. Give it a try.

Another piece of "Netiquette" is : DON’T SHOUT. Writing in CAPITAL LETTERS is shouting. No one likes to be screamed at. And, of course, it is harder to read.

For the sake of your reputation, use the Spell Check tool. It can drive you a little crazy because it doesn’t like some abbreviations, but please persevere.

Before you forward what could be (and usually is) a hoax or an urban legend, check it out first at hoaxbusters.ciac.org/ It makes great and entertaining reading. Don’t embarrass yourself and others by forwarding fraudulent warnings.

Another annoyance is too many cutesy abbreviations. Who in heaven’s name wants to decipher a note like this: " i thk u shd wnt 2 by a nu trk." A good reply might be: "please graduate to 2^nd grade."

Lastly, don’t be quick to "send." We’ve all made mistakes that way. I’ve sent letters that I later regretted because my tone was not right. I’ve also sent letters that I forgot to spell check and was embarrassed by typos. But most importantly, once sent, you cannot get it back. If you are writing something that may be important – or controversial – it’s best to file it under "drafts" and look at it in the morning. Who knows? You may want to delete it. I have - a number of times.

These days email viruses are pretty smart, and can run without your knowing it, and forward itself to everyone in your address book ... so it’s a good idea to install a good virus checker that automatically checks emails for viruses, such as Norton Anti Virus. It has never let a virus slip through. Call me for questions 487-4012.