It harks back to a time, not so long ago, when people put a little more care into their correspondence. I know I have not always been a perfect poster, far from it. However, I'm trying to take some of this advice to heart and apply it to my forum postings:
The writing of a personal note or letter
1. Prepare a place in which to write. It is very important that this be a quiet place, one where you will temporarily be left alone, Romantics like high, vaulted ceilings; pragmatics like low-slung huts, some people require big Gothic windows filled with sunlight; others require candlelight and bed.
2. Preferably, your place should be away from electronic media: no phones, Blackberrys, radios, steros (although some quiet classical music is okay). Especially this means getting away from television, DVD players, and computers of any kind.
3. If the place is not a designated writing area and used only intermittently for this purpose, be sure to clear a space at least as wide as your arm span, clean the surface. Select a comfortable chair. Arrange your writing supplies. (The right environment will put you in the proper frame of mind. Just as a great novel or excellent play or restaurant transforms, you will immediately be able to focus on your thought.)
4. Wash your hands. Return to the writing space and sit down in the chair. Align your feet directly beneath your knees, your feet facing relatively forward. Let your hands fall naturally to your sides. Relax your head, neck, and shoulders, inhale deeply, and let gravity gently pulll your head forward. Take five to ten deliberate breaths while looking downward at nothing in particular. Clear your mind. Hum softly if you need to. Now place your hands on the work surface. If your mind has cleared and you feel calm lift your gaze and begin. (Warning: At no time is it advisable to enter into the act of a personal correspondence rashly or in an agitated state unless you are passionately in love or about to found a new nation and are very sure of this love or the victory of this new nation, otherwise I urge you to try the exercise again.)
-- Nancy Sharon Collins, The Complete Engraver: Monograms, Crests, Ciphers, Seals and the Etiquette of Social Stationary (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012)