Netiquette IQ - 11 Basic Common Types of Email Containing "Too Much Information"

Winston Churchill once said,

"This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read".
 

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All of us have had far too many of these! Just by their very presentation or composition, any email can almost immediately become simply too tedious to read and can be glossed over or abandoned. As a sender, once a point is made, the longer you continue the email, the greater risk you may express something in the wrong manner. For example, an apology might become so long that it greatly diminishes its credibility.  Another example is an angry email. While it is always a bad idea in general to send these, overdone rants might do so much damage they can never be undone! And you never know when an email might resurface or even go viral.

As a rule, it is good Netiquette not to have any lengthy introduction until the intended topic is related.

The following are categories where senders most often become verbose:

Apologies
Job qualifications
Complaints
Anger ( be careful here! )
Bragging
Duplication of the same statement
Rambling sentences
Multiple subjects, often unrelated
Undeleted threads
Unnecessary details, particularly personal ones
Unwanted details, often not pertaining directly to the recipient

In conclusion, if a sender is careful of avoiding the above considerations, the likelihood of a well received correspondence will greatly increase.

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In addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, " Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:

 www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki

 If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio  and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and  Yahoo.  I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ and  PSG of Mercer County, NJ.