Electronic Communications

Because much of the technology in electronic/internet communications is in an embryonic state, rules for bulletin editors are open to modification. Someday, we may all be communicating electronically with no printed text except what we choose to print out. At that time, a whole new concept of "publishing" will have to be devised to fit the growing development of web page design and communications.

Part of the assumption here is that if an editor is conversant with electronic data transmission, then he is probably already aware of the specialized rules. However, a few general guidelines can be offered for editors still producing paper documents sent through the postal system.

e-mail addresses

e-mail addresses are as varied as the companies that provide the service, but a few generalities apply:

  1. Never put a space in an e-mail address.
  2. Usually characters are printed out in lower case unless otherwise indicated.
  3. Avoid printing part of an e-mail address at the end of a line of text and continuing it on the next line. Always keep the address as intact as possible regardless of what this might do to justified margins.

Web Pages

The same rules apply for printing web addresses as it does for e-mail addresses. They tend to be longer, so an editor will have to be careful about how he prints them out in a line of text. Certainly, it may be necessary to split a line of text; if so, be sure to do so at a forward virgule (/) in the address line. For example, an editor might print the following:

If you want a good idea of what's going on in our neighboring chapters,
be sure to check out the district's web site at www.districtmusic.edu/
members/index.html

Notice that no terminal punctuation is used because it might be considered part of the address, even though any user familiar with the Internet would know that no period will ever end an address.

HR

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