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 (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 (eg Outlook) letting original messages
accumulate at the bottom as garbage on each response.
- Appending noisy legal notes (won't protect
your message neither at the practical nor at the legal level.)
- 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.)
GO BACK HOME