Symbols:  Here is a brief guide to some of the symbolism that you'll find in your e-mail logs:

    (( This is an Out-Of-Character (OOC) Comment. It is enclosed in double parenthesis, and is usually used for an explanation of the log, or a note that can go to the entire crew.))

    OOC Comments used to be enclosed in << >> until it was discovered that several popular HTML-based free e-mail providers had problems delivering mail with this symbolism in it.

    ::: sighs ::: - used to denote an action when you're writing an OOC message. Not widely used.

   *Great, now what?* - used to indicate a thought, or sometimes used in mental telepathy.

    =/\= - more often than not used to indicate a comm-badge conversation. Can also be used to indicate a computer's response to an inquiry.

  RPG & NRPG can also be used instead of OOC to denote in character (RPG) and out of character (NRPG) comments.
 

  Technobabble:  Pick a term from each of the three columns to come up with a myriad of "reasonable" Trek-technobabble terms.