Top 10 email do's and don't's

Ever since a silicon.com reporter recently (mis)fired off an email calling a certain PR exec "an arse" - and then had to phone to apologise, only to find out the email had never even been read, but certainly would be soon - we've given some thought to email do's and don't's.

Last year we canvassed our readership about their worst moments with email and voicemail, recording the best of what we termed their digital blunders. The resulting stories can be found at http://www.silicon.com/digitalblunders .

Our advice was mainly about how to organise inboxes, making sure email is secure and not leaving an individual or organisation open to legal action.

Here, however, are 10 straightforward tips - and we'd like to hear if you have better ones...

Do
Be fairly informal in tone and style (but still...)
Be clear
Re-read before sending
Check To: and CC: fields before sending
Get in your apology first if you do make a blunder

Don't
Swear
SHOUT (by using caps, unless you have a reason to)
Be abusive
Assume confidentiality
Over-use the CC or BCC fields