E-mail etiquette: To reply or not to reply, that is the question
That's the thing about etiquette. Everybody thinks they're polite, and it's the other guy whose behavior warrants correction. Doug Schweitzer thinks it's rude not to reply to e-mail:
It takes just a second to say "Got your message. I'll get back to you soon." My question: Why should I reply just to say I'll reply some other time?
My own complaint is the exact opposite. In fact, I hesitate to e-mail those people who seem to reply immediately to every single message. It's like playing tag. You're it!
In a Carpenter world:
1/1/01, 10:01 am
To Sue
From Sally
Hi. Haven't heard from you in a while. I hope all is well. Some of us might get together for coffee one day next month. Would you be interested in coming? It'd be great to see you.
1/1/01, 11:06 am
To Sally
From Sue
Coffee sounds great. Let me know the time and place sometime next month.
I imagine the following in a Schweitzer world:
1/1/01, 10:01 am
To Sue
From Sally
Hi. Haven't heard from you in a while. I hope all is well. Some of us might get together for coffee one day next month. Would you be interested in joining us? It'd be great to see you. :-)
1/1/01, 10:02 am
To Sally
From Sue
Got your message. :-) I'll get back to you soon.
> At 10:01am on 1/1/01, Sally wrote:
>Hi. Haven't heard from you in a while. I hope all is well. Some of us might together
> for coffee one day next month. Would you be interested in joining us? It'd be great to
> see you. :-)
1/1/01, 10:03 am
To Sue
From Sally
Great! I look forward to hearing from you! :-) :-)
[I'll leave the quoted back portion to your imagination.]
1/1/01, 10:04 am
To Sally
From Sue
Thanks. I know my real messages are well worth the read. :-) :-) :-) I'll try to make it especially noteworthy ... once I actually get around to it, of course. ;-)
1/1/01, 10:05 am
To Sue
From Sally
Great!!! I really look forward to hearing from you!!!
1/1/01, 10:06 am
To Sally
From Sue
Any minute now.
...
1/1/01, 11:06 am
To Sally
From Sue
Hey. So sorry for the delay! I'm just finally getting a chance to respond to your message. Life's so crazy these days!!!!!! I must have a thousand emails in my inbox. I can't imagine how I got so popular. ;-)
Coffee sounds GREAT. Where & When?
1/1/01, 11:07 am
To Sue
From Sally
Got your message. I'll get back to you soon.
1/1/01, 11:07 am
To Sally
From Sue
Great. I look forward to hearing from you.
1/1/01, 11:08 am
To Sue
From Sally
I probably won't know until sometime next month. I'll definitely keep you in the loop as things develop. Hope everything's going really great with you.
1/1/01, 11:09 am
To Sally
From Sue
Terrific. I can't wait to hear.
and so on and so forth.
I think this might explain the advent of instant messaging, cordless phones, Facebook, wireless networks, cell phones, MySpace, Twitter, Second Life and terabyte storage devices.
And I suspect this new development will only make it worse: Yahoo Mail lets users send free text messages to cell phones