💡Email Etiquette Guidelines

mdarc.org uses email for many of our group communication. All of our lists can be found in our Communicating with You page. A huge benefit and a challenge with email is that it can be used in many different contexts:

personal
professional
official notifications of various kinds
group communication of many kinds with different practices, norms and policies for each group
spam and phishing

Our goal is to help those in our community use standard and relatively widely known best practices when communicating via email for club related purposes. This page is to help those who might not be familiar yet or who may be hurried and forgotten to follow these guidelines. The list was compiled and adapted from existing guidelines we were able to find. If the messages you send help set an example for others everyone will benefit. Messages should be clear, intentional and respectful of audience, context and intended confidentiality.

Confidentiality and Security

Treat email as confidential by default unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Remain alert for signs of forged, phishing, or suspicious messages.
If an email seems questionable, verify the sender using a method other than replying
report phishing, spam, or Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE) using approved reporting mechanisms.
Do not click links, open attachments, or respond to suspicious messages.

Forwarding and Sharing

Do not forward emails without permission unless the content is clearly informational or seems intended for broad distribution. If there is a question, ask the author.
When forwarding, summarize the purpose and provide sufficient context for new recipients.
remove unnecessary prior content when appropriate, no longer relevant or no longer helpful.
If forwarding is not appropriate for some reason, consider rewriting the content for a new set of recipients.
Consier using file sharing services and a link rather than attaching files, especially when they are not small.

Managing Recipients
- Add or remove recipients deliberately and transparently.
- Explain changes to recipients when context or expectations may be affected.
- Avoid unnecessary use of CC and avoid removing recipients without a clear reason.
Subject Lines
- Use accurate, specific subject lines that reflect the message content.
- Update the subject line whenever the topic or audience changes.
Thread & Conversation Management
- Start a new thread for new topics or decisions
- Be mindful that email clients handle threading differently.
- In long threads, trim irrelevant or outdated content to preserve clarity, replacing with [...] or other notations.
Writing Style & Tone
- Write succinctly and clearly; plain text lacks tone and can be misinterpreted compared to speaking with someone face to face.
- Use standard spelling, grammar and capitalization. ALL CAPS is often interpreted as shouting.
- Keep messages focused and minimize unnecessary noise.
- If more than a few back-and-forth replies are needed, strongly consider a call or meeting.
- Avoid sending emotional responses; pause and review before sending.
- Keep signatures short and relevant, especially when representing the club.
- Avoid systems that automatically append lengthy, unnecessary or irrelevant disclaimers.

last updated: June 22, 2026

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