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[oversensitive]

When you write--or receive--email from colleagues on campus, do you generally open by saying "Hi," "Hello" or "Dear" so-and-so? 

Likewise, when you close the message, do you routinely say "Thank you," some kind of parting goodbye ("Sincerely," "Best," etc.), and then sign your name?   

Of course, I realize that there might be exceptions to this formula, such as a colleague whom you know very well or a back-and-forth "ping-pong" email exchange that is almost like instant messaging where doing so these things all the time would get tedious and be overly formal.  But, generally speaking, do you do this?

I ask because I am in a dept where doing so is not the norm, both among colleagues and between faculty and staff.  Seldom do people begin by saying hello, writing your name, saying thank you, signing off with "Sincerely", etc.  Instead, you just open up their message and there is some blunt statement from them.

While I want to adhere to the dept culture, I frankly find this rude.  The tone of everyone's messages strikes me as curt and abrupt.  Moreover, I would never write either my chair or our dept secretary in this manner because it seems like barking an order and being disrepsectful. 

I am not a very formal person, but this email style strikes me as lacking in civility or, at least, basic professional manners.  However, lately I get the feeling that my maintaining what I feel is a more polite and professional style is seen as a "weakness". . . That I am somehow "trading away power" by saying please and thank-you.

Am I being--like my moniker--oversensitive?  Many things about this place are crazy and dysfunctional (conspiracy plots abound and power struggles are the norm), and maybe this is another symptom of that.  So, in short, I need a reality check. 

What is the email etiquette on your campus?

[testingthewaters]

Dear oversensitive,

The type of interaction you describe would, indeed, be considered rude on my campus. I would personally also consider it rude, and such correspondence would land in my "deleted messages" box so fast it would make your head spin.

Try not to take your colleagues' tone personally. I would probably (try to) keep up my professional style and just figure they can be rude if they want, I don't have to.

Thanks for pointing out that common courtesy makes life more enjoyable for all.

Sincerely,
testingthewaters

[kohelet]

I just looked through the messages in my inbox, and I don't think we have a shared email etiquette here.  I agree that emails (especially non-ping-ponging emails) should open with a greeting and close with my name--it seems more polite and avoids confusion (was this sent just to me or to everyone? which of my 90 students is kitty45@whatever.com?).  If there's anything close to a norm here, it's what I do--an informal "Hey, Bob." at the beginning or just "Bob,"  and my name or initials at the end, but no "sincerely," etc.  For some reason, seeing "Sincerely, Joan" at the end of an email always looks out of place to me.  I think adding an informal salutation and your name or initials at the end would be a nice way to try to shape your email culture there--doing anything more formal might come across as odd/distant.

I'm modeling using subject headers for my chair--he never does, which drives me nuts.  I always stick something relevant in the subject line when I reply.  He hasn't taken it up yet!

[gayle]

Hi Oversensitive,

With the folks I work with everyday, we are fairly informal, mostly greeting by "Hi First name," and signing off "Thanks, First Name". 

When writing to someone across campus we don't know as well or that we are trying to butter up, it will be a little more formal greeting or sign off with a full thank you, but still first names only.  The only exception to this would be if I was writing to someone not related to my job, ie a complaint email related to a bad experience in the dining hall (Dear Mr. Dining Manager) or to a prof I was taking a class from (Dear Prof. Last name).

My personal gripe: signatures replacing the closing.  I have an automatic email signature with my full name, phone #,address, etc. that will be a few lines below my closing.  Some co-workers create a signature that has that, but also includes their closer.  They can't be bothered to write "Thanks, Sally" or "I'll get back to you tomorrow, Sally" manually at the end of each email.  Instead every email ends with "All the best, Sally" In a completely different font that is obviously part of the auto signature.  It's just tacky.

And don't get me started on the patterned backgrounds.  I think I best be heading over to the venting thread now...

Hope that helps,
Gayle

[canadatourismguy]

I always follow the advice I give to my students.  

An Email is a written record of the subject matter at hand.  It could be used in court or within an investigation (or in a grade dispute) as evidence.  As such, you want to be sure that it is a true reflection of your ideas and meanings.  

Emails which are 'flippant' could easily be misinterpreted and lead to confusion or worse.   So unless you are prepared to have your own words used against you at some point (remember Emails are really never erased), it is best to keep the correspondence formal.  For instance, I once had a grade dispute where a student charged me with being bias against them.  As evidence of my good will towards the student, I had the record of correspondence between us.  In my Emails, I had written: exactly how the grade was determined; provided helpful suggestions for improvement; as well as an invitation to come and show me their next assignment before it was due to discuss ways for improving their performance.   Then the dean read and interpreted the tone of the students' Emails to me, which was in my opinion (and apparently the deans') quite harsh.  Upon reading the Email exchange, the student had no chance to succeed in his complaint.  The dean even went so far as to reprimanded the student for being unprofessional in his dealings with me.

I do not want to think about what would have happened if I had answered the Emails in an informal, offhanded matter.  It would have been much harder to prove my case and clear my name.  So while it may look silly to write an Email like a formal letter (I do get teased about it from time to time), the protection if offers is well worth the good-natured chuckles.

Help this helps,

CTG

[voxprincipalis]

You are always allowed to be nicer than the norm. Courtesy is not a weakness. Being polite does not mean you are not also firm.

VP

[science_expat]

Dear Oversensitive,

With senior people I tend to adopt their level of formality, with close peers or juniors I tend to be informal. I am more formal with relative strangers, however.

Hence, to peers my general saluation is "Hi firstname" and I conclude "thanks" or "cheers" or "best" followed by my first name. With very close colleagues I drop the "hi" and the closing salutation unless I'm asking for something, in which case I ALWAYS say "thanks" or "many thanks".

When dealing with administrators I usually start with "Dear firstname" and end with something like "Many thanks, Science".

My Dean generally starts his emails with "Dear" and hence I do the same in emails to him. However, a more senior officer in our university tends to start with "Science"  and thus my normal greeting to her is "Firstname". Again, if I'm asking for something I become more formal and begin with "Dear Firstname".

All the best,
Science

[ursula]

so starting with "snookums" is right out?

[qrypt]

so starting with "snookums" is right out?

That is only for use with attractive students.

[dyst_uk]

Seems pretty uniform across my uni, at least for 'friendly' emails.

Dear xxxx,

Text of email

Best wishes

Name

Signature

[cogscientist]

After checking my inbox, I came to the conclusion that people at my institution always end their messages by their name or initials, often use some sort of opening salutation like "Cogscientist," or "Hi", and infrequently use any form of parting goodbye before signing.

[dyst_uk]

I've just looked at people I know better, and even they tend to put (e.g.) BW before their name.

[ursula]

so starting with "snookums" is right out?

That is only for use with attractive students.

I was thinking of senior administrators . . .

[notranslation]

People here are e-mail freaks! The form tends to vary a great deal. My personal gripe is people who hit "reply all" when it's not really necessary, making us waste time and energy by having us read some one-word response (unless it's intra-departmental or intra-committee). I am also bothered by general e-mail information overload. I can only process so many e-mails in one day, people! I am interested in proposals, committees, events for faculty, events for students, events in the community, but geez...can't we have a public calendar or something, where we take care of these things and eliminate some of the unnecessary e-mails?

Sorry. A-hem. I've just hijacked the post.

As for what the OP is saying...one way to address the lack of courtesy in the e-mails might be to casually mention to your fellow colleagues that some of your students are incapable of sending e-mails in a respectful manner. You could allude to how they don't address you properly, or bother to sign their names (of course, take care to mention this to someone who won't think you're personally attacking his/her e-mail style or person), and say that you are interested in developing e-mail guidelines to pass out at the beginning of the semester to your classes. If you start to generate interest in something like that, most likely, some of your colleagues might become more conscious about their own use of e-mail. The problem is, if it's happening from the top down, it's hard to eliminate.

Bottom line: oversensitive, I don't think you're living up to your name, no. Just keep doing what you're doing. Maybe it will rub off.

[captain_obvious]

Once we're in the midst of an email back-and-forth, if it's someone I know well and am friendly with (including my adviser), I often leave off a greeting (although almost never a closing such as "cheers," "thanks," or "best.")

In the initial email of a given conversation, though, I always include a greeting.  I'm not big on "Dear," as that feels rather formal to me.  I generally use "Hi So-and-so."