When it comes to forums or message boards, even other areas of the Internet where one can communicate with others, using a nick-name or “handle” is accepted practice. Many times these nick-names reflect your hobby or interests. In these venues that is just fine for personal discussions — but not for business activities. You always want to use your name so people know who is typing and who they are communicating with.
E-mail, forums or Blogs, when used for business reasons, are not the place to use a nick-name, handle or department name to hide your true identity. The From: field of every e-mail you send should clearly reflect your proper name: John A. Doe or John Doe.
Just using your first name, in the case of John can make those you communicate with have to determine “which” John you may be. j doe, john doe or j a doe — all small caps; not acceptable either (unless you are a gradeschooler). The From: field should reflect your full name in proper case.
Using a pseudonym, nick-name, handle or department name in e-mail makes one wonder why you don’t want to be identified; what is it exactly that you are trying to hide? This also takes away the personal touch that is so many times missing from electronic attentions and is critical to trust and relationship building. Not to mention that you could very easily be mistaken as a spammer and deleted. There simply is no good reason, that I am aware of to not have a formal name attached to every business e-mail sent.
But wait, I was told otherwise just the other day…
The excuse that was recently provided for this practice was that using their real name in the From: field “caused me much grief as my computer was sending viruses to my numerous contacts.” What?
You deserved the grief if you were not properly protecting your computer and those you communicate with by using a virus program and keeping it updated. So now you hide your identity so that when you make mistakes people don’t know who you are? If you make a mistake be “man enough” to take your comeuppance.
I’ve yet to receive an valid excuse as to why one should not want to use their full and proper name in the From: field and first name at least in business forums or on business Blogs. That is unless you do have something to hide — and that’s exactly what everyone will presume!
Some More Info for You:
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What if you have a personal site where your full name is not known and you receive comments on this site and want to reply without divulging your full name? Surely an email address with your nickname would be appropriate in this case?
I find a fair number of personal bloggers do not share their full name on their blogs.
Thanks for asking Jummy! I am specifically talking about e-mail. Blogs are an entirely different venue and animal!
That’s why I mention “forums or message boards, even other areas of the Internet where one can communicate with others, using a nick-name or “handle” is accepted practice…” E-mail is simply not the venue to be anonymous.
HTH!
Judith
I usually use my real name in all my email contacts but for community and forums i usually use something that’s unique and different like the one i’m using right now this is my online alias and it is associated with my buddha gravatar and i also find out that only few are using this name”kyrious”
“Kyrious”:
Thanks for stopping by…
First, let’s define alias:
Is that really a name you want your business to be known or referenced by? In business, which is what this Blog is about, not getting your formal name out there can be detrimental. And if do you use an alias or nickname it should be reflective of your business and what you do…
As far as your alisas matching your gravatar, is that really a priority when it comes to making an impression in business? People do business with people — not nicknames or gravatars. When it comes to business, you shouldn’t hide behind aliases and symbols — makes people wondering what it is exactly you do or are trying to hide.
At your service,
Judith
P.S. Your comment was on topic so that is why I have broken my usual rule of not approving comments where visitors do not use their name and instead use their nickname, domain or keywords. Please do me a favor and on future comments, if you want them to be approved, use your name so we all know who we are talking to. (See the link at the top of the page: Comment Policy). TYVM!
thanks for this advice i totally agree with you that’s why i inserted some basic information on my blog it’s all about credibility but in some of my forum i prefer to use my own pic
Hey, Josh:
Thanks for stopping by and your comments. One thing of concern to me is adding comments on a Business E-mail Etiquette Blog without using proper sentence structure and punctuation. Commenting in this manner certainly doesn’t lend to your credibility. I hope this is not how you present yourself elsewhere …
Capitalization Is So Very Important