Walter Alejandro Iglesias <wai@roquesor.com>
Very annoying practices you shold avoid with
electronic mail
- Using formatted text (eg HTML.) Or the
irritating flowed format to allow plain text automatically
adjust to the window size, imitating HTML
behaviour. Using plain text is the only way to know
that the message will reach the other end with the format you (i.e.,
the author) chose, it's not up to the programer of the
application to make this decision. Another important reason
is these formats break quoted text. And I could mention a
hundred more.
- Doing top-posting, specially with email clients not able
to quote, letting original messages accumulate at the bottom as garbage
on each response.
- Adding noisy legal footnotes, which obviously won't
protect your message either practically or legally, and contrary to
what some believe, companies aren't required to include them.
- Relying on email as a tool to send files (instead of a
server,) abusing of attachments.
- Not reading before answering, forcing the other to
explain the same idea again and again through a twelve messages thread
when the first was enough. Or using software purposely
designed to obstruct or even break the dialog as the one pointed in the
following item.
- Using annoying ticket systems, as large companies use
today as part of their bureaucracy to discourage their clients from
asking questions or support.
- Forcing the user to suffer web forms to send messages, as
those for contact in web sites o those used by the mentioned ticket
systems. All fake privacy measures.
- Using web mail interfaces (gmail, hotmail,) limited by
design.
- Write and answer email messages from a
smartphone. As happens with any “Swiss army knife” it has
sense only under those special circumstances in which you don't have
access to a real tool. (And NO, chat tools like the
currently famous and widely used are not a replacement for email.)