next »

[noof_]

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.

I agree. It is lazy to not include a personal closer (something other than the signature).

The colleagues who have emailed me so far (I've been here just short of a month) open with a greeting and close with some sort of personal closing.

We tend to get more casual when we have ping-pong emails.

- Hi Noof. Wanna go to lunch next week. Best Wishes, Colleague
* Hi Colleague. Sure, how about Wednesday? Best, Noof
- Can't do Wednesday, how about Thursday? Colleague
* Sounds good. See you then. Noof

We drop the formality pretty quickly when the back-and-forth starts.

The dean has sent me a couple of personal messages. I was surprised to see that he included a personal closer and his first name only.

[noof_]

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.

What is the email etiquette on your campus?

Perhaps this is too far off topic. What about students? Do you get or care if you get emails from students that go right to the point?

How about those students who email:

Hi Joe,
Sorry I wasn't in class today. What did I miss?

[oversensitive]

Hi again All,

Thanks so much to everyone.  I had a feeling that this email style or approach in my dept was unusual.  But, as I said before, I needed a reality check. 

It would be one thing if my colleagues were being too flip, casual or informal in their messages.  Instead, they are just blunt and abrupt.  No greeting "Hello," "Hi" or even "Hey."  No "please" or "thank you."  No parting goodbye like "Best" or Sincerely" and no initials or name--not even a signature card. 

The message that recipients are supposed to take away from this tone, I think, is that the sender is simply far too busy to have time to bother with such trivial formalities.  But, I agree with some of the posts here that one is never too busy to be civil and use your manners.

Ironically, the students here are much more polite.  Even from ones who are "socially awkward" or a tad spoiled, it is unusual when their messages do not contain some form of a hello, please, thank you, good-bye and a name/signature.

Hmmmm....  What does that say about the place where I work?

Thanks again to everyone!
oversensitive

[august_leo]

I try to use "dear first-name." I usually sign "thanks, August-Leo" or if I don't know the person "Thank you for your help/time, August-Leo"

I totally agree about the reply-all problem. I especially hate when it looks like the person didn't realize what he/she did.

I still don't "get" signing "best, August-Leo" -- my grad school advisor does this. Best what? Best wishes? It just sounds ungrammatical.

Oversensitive: maybe you can try "hi" and your first initial at the beginning and ending to start a trend.

[finallyfullprof]

For me, it depends on the audience.  I use the "Hi X" opening for my colleagues I know personally and my students and will also employ it if someone who's written to me used it.  For my chairperson and administrators above him, I generally use "Dear X" and the colon instead of the comma.  For the complimentary close, I use whatever seems appropriate for the message I just sent, e.g., "Thanks," or "Sincerely."

I use the Hi formula with students unless I need to be more formal with them and choose my complimentary close in the same way. I tend to let my signature card serve as the final word when I'm dealing with a difficult situation and want my title to speak for itself.

[belladonna]

I also use a greeting and sign off with my name, no matter how my correspondent e-mails me.

One thing I'm still not used to is seeing people sign off with "Thanks, firstname." Are they thanking themselves? Why would they thank themselves in the e-mail that they are sending to someone else? Shouldn't they be thanking the person that they are corresponding with instead?

I know they're not thanking themselves, but I still ask myself that anyway. It seems like if they want to thank whoever they're e-mailing, they would include the thanks in the body of the letter and not as something to sign off their names with.

[larryc]

Of course emails should follow the conventions of a professional business letter. And at my university they do, except for the ones sent by criminal justice professors.

That said--you sure did choose your moniker well.

[csguy]

For people I know I don't usually include a greeting. I'll sometimes have a closing (thanks or a quip) and otherwise sign with:

--
csguy

[chelation]

Here's one: a student emailed me with a very eloquent salutation, "Yo."

I also hate this one: "Hello Firstname Lastname" (and this is your student who has known you all semester)

But I agree with Oversensitive; the most annoying is no salutation or complimentary closing at all.

[mr_55]

Here's one: a student emailed me with a very eloquent salutation, "Yo."

I also hate this one: "Hello Firstname Lastname" (and this is your student who has known you all semester)

I get this all the time (the firstname lastname part). Perhaps it is my mom's fault. Having three first names as my first, middle, and last names might confuse my students. I often get first-middle last, as if I have one of those hip, new hyphenated names.

[georgia_guy]

Oversensitive,

My emails usually are something like this. If I sign off with more than my name it will be something like:

Thanks,

Georgia_guy

p.s. I see no need for "dear" etc. unless you really are dear to me.

[polly_mer]

Generally, I use the format

Hi Recipient,

[message]

Polly
--
Polly Mer
[several lines of contact info]

for basically everything except the most informal of back and forth.  I seldom send formal emails because formal situations should be dealt with by snail mail on letterhead.

[svenc]

Hi Over,

I would agree with you that an email that just says "We're meeting at 3:00 today, can you be there?" would seem a bit abrupt to me at work.  However, I find nothing unusual about it here on the CHE fora.  Context is everything, but you are not being oversensitive in this regard.

However, I very much doubt that being slightly more polite in your own messages is really perceived as a weakness by your colleagues.  Could it be on this point you are being a bit oversensitive (or just paranoid)?

Best,

SvenC