Friday

Electronical Mail Chumps

"Professor Sherry Turkle said she came up with the concept after researching e-mail and discovering that some people harbor fantasies about escaping their e-mail burden...Turkle, who estimated that she has 2,500 pieces of unread e-mail in her inbox."

E-Mail Reply to All: 'Leave Me Alone'

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When I was working in an office, people would always be amazed that my electronical mailbox would only have like seven messages in the inbox. They would always tell me how I must have immaculate archives. I would tell them that I don't keep archives and that what they see -- the seven -- was it.

Why would anyone ever have more than, say, 10 messages to ever even appear on their radar? Let me look.... OK, my Gmail account presently has seven messages (and full-disclosure, Gmail keeps mail as threads, so it represents more than seven individual mailings, but trust me I would probably never have more than 15. Oh, none are unread. I've been this way forever. My 2,856 megabytes of free Gmail space rarely moves past 0% usage [You are currently using 0 MB (0%) of your 2856 MB].

People have thresholds. I've watched people fuss with their inboxes with frustration and embarrassment. Me? If I don't have it -- I don't have it. Nothing t freak about. I do sometimes ask someone else (an Electronical Mail Chump - EMC) to pleas forward me a particular note. They suggest that I carelessly deleted the mailing. I explain, "No. I just figures you'd have it if I ever needed it." EMCs!

People have asked, "What about vacation? What do you do when you come back from several days away from your mail?" Well, that's easy. First, when are we ever away from our mail anymore. But, if I were to be, I generally do one of two things (dependent on how I'm feeling about the number of mail stacked). I either (I've done this for years too):
A) Pick through to see what may be important (or, really, amusing or somehow satisfying) and delete all of the rest, but this requires thought.

or

B) Chuck it all. Select-all > Delete. That's it! If something important is brewing, someone will contact me. This is what I usually do. No thought involved.
Here's a free hint people (because I could charge for this shit): Use the following message for your vacation reminder:
For Work

"Hi. I'll be away from this account for a few days. When I return I will delete the entire inbox. Feel welcome to catch me up when I'm back."