Thursday, April 19, 2007

E-mail Newbies

First, let's show the official definition of what a Newbie is:

new·bie /ˈnubi, ˈnyu‑/ [noo-bee, nyoo‑]
–noun
a newcomer or novice, esp. an inexperienced user of the Internet or of computers in general.
[Origin: 1965–70, Americanism; perh. newb(orn) + -ie]
Back in the late 1980s or even in the 1990s, Newbies were everywhere. Even I was an Internet Newbie at one point in time! It's true! ;-)

Each of us goes through our Newbie phase. That said, at some point you are no longer a Newbie. That is if you are open to learning and embrace the information necessary to use the technology in which you are participating.

Newbie is not a permanent label nor should it be. Part of technology is that you will always be learning new due to things evolving constantly. But that doesn't mean you remain stagnant and don't learn the basics of how and why in regard to using technology properly.

I run into E-mail Newbies all the time and am here to help. But if a Newbie e-mails me about one thing and their e-mail includes numerous other E-mail Etiquette faux pas -- I will kindly point that out to them so they can learn and leave Newbieville.

We all should be patient with the Newbies in our lives. But we should all also do them a favor by pointing out the information and issues they need to be aware of and practice so that they can look forward to a more enjoyable and productive online experience.

E-mail Etiquette is just on of those issues.

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