NETIQUETTE ON QUOTING E-MAILS | 2005-07-29
I NEVER quote an e-mail without asking the writer if I may do so. Even then I also ask them whether or not I can use their name.
Even then, I do not use their name unless it is appropriate.
As to anonymous e-mails, it is my responsibility to protect the writer. An e-mail is a private message even if it is sent anonymously.
I cannot ask an anonymous writer whether I can use his or her message. But with my background in intelligence and as an interrogator I can judge whether, if I had the resources and the motivation, I could find out who wrote it.
If so, I don't quote it.
Even then, I would not make anything public that would really hurt the writer.
And even then, there has to be a very good reason to quote it.
Very few e-mails could make it through all these hurdles.
I say all this because I am studying an e-mail that I need to quote that probably does make it through all these hurdles. But first I want to make it clear that any e-mail to me is handled as confidential information by a professional in the area of confidential information.