Publish mail etiquette

2 files changed, 147 insertions, 78 deletions

diff --git a/_drafts/mail-ettiquette.md b/_drafts/mail-ettiquette.md
deleted file mode 100644
index f1b099d..0000000
--- a/_drafts/mail-ettiquette.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,78 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: page
-title: Email ettiquette
-language: en
-ref: mail-ettiquette
----
-I have seen many people having problem with using email, especially from my classmates.
-Writing email is an important skill, and knowing how to write email properly is respecting
-the recipient.
-
-In this article I am writing about:
-
-- Structure of a good email
-- Information you should include in an email
-- What not to include in an email
-
-It also includes my email preference. If you violate too many red flags I stated here I probably won't read your mail.
-
-# Email Structure
-
-Here is a generic email structure:
-
-	[Tag] Subject
-
-	Greeting: Hi/Dear [name]/Sir/Madame/To whom it may concern,
-
-	Introduction
-
-	Elaboration
-
-	Regards
-
-	Signature
-
-## Subject
-
-Some people find it hard to come up with a good email subject.
-
-## Greeting
-
-It's not a problem for most people, though I have personally received many emails without greeting.
-An email is not a private message, and even for private message you probably should do a greeting
-before a conversation as well.
-
-Note:
-
-- Hi/Hello is informal, so you probably should avoid it if you don't know the person.
-- You could include the person's title (e.g., Dr.) if you like and the other person is comfortable, but for me personally, don't use Mr.
-- Refer to the person with their preferred name. For me, this means don't use my family name[^1]. Also, don't deadname trans people.
-
-## Introduction
-
-It is necessary to introduce yourself if you and the other person don't know each other. Start with
-
-	My name is... I am ...
-	I am writing this mail to ...
-
-If you know the person, you can just come to the reason you're writing this mail.
-
-## Regards and Signature
-
-To close an email, you should end it with:
-
-- Sincerely,
-- Regards,
-- Yours cordially,
-- Best,
-
-... followed by your name. 
-
-# Send in plain text
-# Language
-# Pronoun
-# Attachment
-
-[^1]: I would say it's the same for all other Vietnamese people. Vietnamese people currently has quite few family name,
-and most of them are "Nguyen", therefore we never refer to one another as family name. This could be different for other Asian culture,
-e.g. Chinese or Japanese people may use family name in formal situation.
diff --git a/mail-etiquette.md b/mail-etiquette.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c98fbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mail-etiquette.md
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+---
+layout: page
+title: Email
+language: en
+ref: mail-etiquette
+---
+I have seen many people having problem with using email, especially from my classmates.
+Writing email is an important skill, and knowing how to write email properly is respecting
+the recipient.
+
+In this article I am writing about how to write a proper mail,
+my email preferences, and some technical issues related to email.
+If you violate too many red flags I stated here I probably won't read your mail.
+
+### Contents
+* Table of contents
+{:toc}
+
+# Email Structure
+
+Here is a generic email structure:
+
+	[Tag] Subject
+
+	Greeting: Hi/Dear [name]/Sir/Madame/To whom it may concern,
+
+	Introduction
+
+	Elaboration
+
+	Regards
+
+	Signature
+
+## Subject
+
+Some people find it hard to come up with a good email subject.
+
+You can (and should) include a short tag to let the recipient know about the topic
+before reading the whole subject line, unless they requested otherwise.
+
+## Greeting
+
+It's not a problem for most people, though I have personally received many emails without greeting.
+An email is not a private message, and even for private message you probably should do a greeting
+before a conversation as well.
+
+Note:
+
+- Hi/Hello is informal, so you probably should avoid it if you don't know the person.
+- You could include the person's title (e.g., Dr.) if you like and the other person is comfortable, but for me personally, don't use Mr.
+- Refer to the person with their preferred name. For me, this means don't use my family name[^1]. Also, don't deadname trans people.
+
+## Introduction
+
+It is necessary to introduce yourself if you and the other person don't know each other. Start with
+
+	My name is... I am ...
+	I am writing this mail to ...
+
+If you know the person, you can just come to the reason you're writing this mail.
+
+## Regards and Signature
+
+To close an email, you should end it with:
+
+- Sincerely,
+- Regards,
+- Yours cordially,
+- Best,
+
+... followed by your name. 
+
+# Language
+
+This should go without saying, but when someone sends you an email in a language,
+don't reply in another, unless you're asked to.
+
+## Pronoun
+
+Pronoun is a sensitive topic, and mispronoun someone can make [zem]
+feel very uncomfortable.
+
+In English, this is not very a common problem, since first and second pronouns
+are neutral. In other languages, such as French or German, it is not. Using "tu"
+or "du/ihr" in a formal email (i.e. not with your friends) will make you look
+very unprofessional. Choosing pronouns is a difficult problem in a deeper level,
+since the pronouns depend on age, gender, social status, job, etc and not
+just the formalness. That's why I don't like writing in Vietnamese.
+
+# Attachment
+
+This is a rather technical topic, but it's simple to follow.
+
+[Don't send Word documents][no-word]. Words are not only bloated and inefficient,
+it also poses malware and virus threats. Of course, you wouldn't attach those, but for
+safety many people including me would not take the risk.
+
+Instead, just include the text inside the email if it is not long, export the document
+as pdf, HTML, or plain text file.
+
+Similarly, don't send RAR archive. RAR is a proprietary archive format, which means
+free software cannot open it. Please use an open format like ZIP instead, or better yet,
+just attach individual files in the email - I can preview without download that way.
+
+# Send in plain text
+
+This is a rather technical topic, but it's simple to follow.
+I'm not dictating which format you should use when emailing someone else, but please do
+this when you send me an email.
+
+HTML text is preferred by marketers, since they can embed bloated images and GIFs in the
+email, which can assist their intended purpose.
+
+However, I recommend writing mails only in plain text for following reason:
+
+- HTML allows phishing
+- HTML makes tracking possible, which doesn't respect recipient's privacy
+- HTML emails are less accessible (I will make a post about accessibility and link here)
+
+In fact, many mail clients only display plain text and not HTML. On the other hand, all
+mail clients can display plain text.
+Many mailing list blocks HTML. HTML is for the web, which email is not[^2].
+
+Read [this page][useplaintext] to see how to write mail in plain text file.
+
+## What if I want to include an image?
+
+Attach it as a file and refer to that.
+
+## Links are usually long and I'm afraid it can be disruptive
+
+You can use reference, like this:
+
+	Please read the post [1] for more information.
+	...
+
+	[1]: https://example.org/this-link-is-long-and-disruptive
+
+[^1]: I would say it's the same for all other Vietnamese people. Vietnamese people currently has quite few family name,
+and most of them are "Nguyễn", therefore we never refer to one another as family name. This could be different for other Asian culture,
+e.g. Chinese or Japanese people may use family name in formal situation.
+[^2]: They work on entirely different protocols, with different formats.
+
+[useplaintext]: https://useplaintext.email
+[zem]: /menglish.html
+[no-word]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html