Write it like mom's gonna read it.

Hi Alan May, I copied on an email that was intended for the seller from her agent, this was a short sale that smelled fishy, You never know whose hands your emails/texts/posts will end up in.

I agree with Dorie Dillard above. Keep all files in order and act as if one day whatever you have written or not written for that matter will one day be up on the monitor in a courtroom and the judge will be asking you questions about it.

OMG! That news would strike terror in my heart too. I too try to joke around at times. Great advice Alan, we should assume any and all emails in transactions are subject to public consumption. D 

Well, that's no fun.  How am I supposed to shock and stun people?

Nice post. The only way to create such an amazing post is to choose an interesting topic like the difference between rational and irrational numbers and make an effective outline to write down that post. To conduct an effective research is also for the students in this regard.

Funny story. It reminds me of when our landscape architect shared an email he received from our next door neighbors thanking him for blocking their view of our "slab" (our "slab" as they called it was a 25'x50' concrete pad that we put an ice rink on in the winter and in the summer we used it for basketball, tennis, and all kinds of other activities).

Got me laughing - thanks Alan.    Yes - once we type it anywhere, or share it anywhere, it leaves our control.    Whenever we do anything, anywhere, with anyone,  consider it's potentially available to everyone.     As  Grandma used to say, if you don't want to see your picture in the paper next to an embarassing story, don't do it!    The only difference today is the immediacy.

Good afternoon Alan -  there are no secrets with email or the Internet.

In today's world we never know when some of our communications is going where we did not expect it.

I have inadvertently sent an email to the wrong email address.

Be careful of what you write.

Before I ever send anything I read and re-read my thought. Call me OCD but I think it's important to say the appropriate thing. Thanks!

That would be adhering to an almost impossible standard if I would write for my Mother to read.

In this day and age of advanced technology, I will also add to make sure that any voicemail you leave pass the "mother's test". I just forwarded a voicemail that someone left me to a third party... Always make sure your tracks are irreprochable!

Enjoy the weekend!

I totally agree. We never know when an email we wrote might get inadvertently forwarded (or even on purpose), a text message will be screen-shot and sent somewhere else, a voice mail forwarded. Anything we say in any format needs to be mom-proof.

Oh that was fortunate!  Reminds me of agents that just forward me emails from their clients--during negotiations or some other matter--then I have their client's email and I feel that is private correspondance.

Hi Alan,  Great advice.  I usually take care in anything I write as well, but it does get your attention.  I hope I didn't slip up anywhere.   Thanks.

I always try to write as if this is going to be read "after I'm gone" to the people I love the most.  Keeps me honest.

This is excellent advice.  It's also a good idea to double check all recipients in the address bar.  There are accounts of people accidentally including an unintended recipient on an email.  The repercussions were devastating to all recipients.

So true!  The phrase "Dance like nobody's watching" doesn't apply here!  We have to be mindful that anything and everything can be heard, repeated and read.  Whew!  Good for you for being the consumate professional :)

I've learned the hard way that you have to assume they're going to read it - whoever the "they" might be!

That is a great warning to us all.  Writing what you think is often a bad thing if it is not positive!  I almost said factual but "ratty old sofa" could have been just as factual!