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The Importance Of Being Earnest in Your Email Sign-offs

The email sign-off is no minor thing.
MARTIN CONNELLY

Header Art: Caps Lock Trainer Key From Make

The email sign-off is no minor thing. From the ever handy "cheers" to the slightly more colorful "XOXO" and the downright baffling "Stay Jewish" (which was used, almost exclusively in conversation with gentiles by David Hirshey, executive vice president at Harper Collins), how we say goodbye is a much more delicate matter of concern that it might first appear in the speed of the moment.

Mostly, I don't. A quick "- m" or, if I'm feeling voluble, maybe a "cheers" or a "best." It seems like something I should work on though, because none of that seems, in retrospect, terribly friendly. I used to finish my emails with "love and lemurs," or sometimes "peas and carrots." But I'm not sure those are totally appropriate either.

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This all falls under the umbrella of "Netiquette", a term which most people seem to agree ( though I can't find the documentation) originated in march of 1986 (Timeline, Internet, Gov't, and Telecommunications) on Usenet lists. Netiquette was a topic of serious discussion through the 1990's, and there is an astonishing amount written on the subject for perusal online.

MS Manners

Netiquette guides provide a good reminder that the things we take for granted today had to be agreed upon and popularized not too long ago. Consider these rules from The Claris Guide to Email Etiquette, which came out in 1997.

Use Asterisks Use asterisks to highlight a key word or thought for emphasis (i.e. thank you * very * much). Use asterisks only when necessary to highlight a point as overuse of asterisks may make the sender seem insincere.

[Do Not] Use ALL CAPS This is the online equivalent of shouting. Don't use a string of capital letters in your correspondence unless absolutely necessary.

The Claris Guide has this to say about sign-offs:

The way one signs email correspondence is often an expression in itself. Whether the user's preference is to be formal or funny, quick or quirky, email allows you to "sign off" with your personal style.

This seems to suggest that the body of the email should not, really, express much personality. Email should be direct and to the point. But the signature, or sign-off is personal.

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Netmanners.com has this to offer:

Your closing, while very important, is only the icing on the cake. It needs to be inline with the overall tone and demeanor of your email to ensure that your message is received as intended and leaves no room for misunderstandings or incorrect perceptions.

By taking your time and choosing your words carefully your sign-offs will just be one more indicator of what a pleasure it will be to communicate with you.

The Last Word

Netiquette, by Virginia Shea, which was published in 1994, doesn't address the question sign-offs. But it does bring up the subject of sig files, something I had totally forgotten about.

Some systems allow people to create a "signature file" or "sig file." These signatures automatically appear at the end of each message the person sends. They usually contain the person's full name and often include cute quotes or little drawings. For example:

A\ Seth Ross
A A\ Publisher, Albion Books
A A\ 4547 California St., San Francisco, CA 94118
AAAAAAA\ seth@albion.com, 415-752-7666, fax 415-752-5417
A A\ "Computer books for a converging world."

Shea is fairly ambivalent about sig files. They don't waste time, she says, because they're at the end of the email anyway, and the fact that they have offline contact information is useful. But she's not particularly enamored of them. As a rule, says Shea:

In most situations, Netiquette frowns on excessive sigs and smiles on pithy ones.

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If this piece has inspired you to append some ASCII-ART to your email communications, but you're having trouble finding the right pithy saying to incorporate, CoolSig has 4467 of them, organized by category.

In light of the subject, I can offer: "Email is packaged by intellectual weight, not volume. Some settling of contents may have occurred during transmission." Or, perhaps the slightly threatening, "Don't make me use uppercase…"

But, whoops, I seem to have broken rule number one the 32 most important email etiquette tips.

Do not make an e-mail longer than it needs to be. Remember that reading an e-mail is harder than reading printed communications and a long e-mail can be very discouraging to read.

I've got to run.

Love and Carrots,

Martin.

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