Hyphens

Twelve years ago the members of the copyediting-L list engaged in an exercise to resolve, or at least clarify, some disputed issues. First we identified issues, then we assigned people to advocate on each side of each issue. 

I argued then against hyphenating the word "email," but the majority on the list wanted to give the hyphenated version more time to evolve into the unhyphenated version. Well, they've had plenty of time, but the same people who never hyphenated the word (Sun, Wired, and many others) still don't, and the ones who advocated hyphens (Microsoft and the "mainstream" publishers) still use them.

I say it's time to give the hyphens a rest and agree to spell comon terms like email and website solid.