I once was let go from a job because of something related to email. It's almost comical, although I didn't feel that way when it actually happened.
I was basically working independently on a teaching task. But there was one coworker who had been there for a long time and was working more in outreach. She told me to install four(!) different instant messaging apps -- which I didn't do because while her job involved a lot of communicating with third parties, mine didn't. Besides, she was not my boss (formally - although I think she thought she kinda was. In any event, she did have a lot of influence on my actual supervisor.)
She insisted that that's mandatory for me to which I countered that the whole professional world works on email just fine, as far as non-internal communication is concerned. She started screaming at me in my own office how I had betrayed her by agreeing to install the apps but then didn't do it. I didn't think I agreed because I found the idea ridiculous from the get go. Anyway - I stayed calm and said we should talk again when she was calmer, too.
I later found out that she then schemed behind my back to have me laid off. Which obviously worked.
I must have really rubbed her the wrong way. But in retrospect, I'm really happy to have moved on to better places since.
I like that email respects the time of both parties. Either can reply when convenient. When a reply requires careful consideration or phrasing you have the time to do so. When you are otherwise engaged you don’t have to stop and handle each one now. When you need to reference it later it is often much easier than finding a chat. It’s almost the only relaxing comms method left apart from mailing a letter.
One of the reasons I like mutt is that I can easily edit the “From:” header (I have Postfix configured with multiple email aliases for my primary email account).
In my experience, most mail user agents allow editing the Subject header. Even Outlook Web Application that I have to use in work allows me to change the Subject line when a conversation thread has veered off-topic, e.g., “Server replacement [was: Windows 11 upgrades of client PCs in Accounts]“
I've done that the past couple of years two handfuls of times. Mostly to people I discovered on HN, with a nice hardware or software project. Only once did I get a nasty reply (probably because I was too much in my enthusiasm), so I'll remember you, you Italian prick. ;)
Most replies are very nice. People really feel seen and appreciated when I compliment them on their cool project and nice write up.
Even if no one replies, I would still send the occasional email, because I want independent websites/blogs to thrive and stay.
> But I’ve found there’s something magical about email as a medium of communication, and as a technology.
Reminds me of [0]
I love email and postcards. It's a bummer that the signal to noise ratio is so high with junk mail, but that makes genuine correspondence even more special. Long replies make you sit with someone else's perspective without interrupting longer than you would in normal conversation and I think that changes things dramatically.
I find that Gmail with tabs and filters honestly works pretty well. I find the (few) things that end up in my Primary tab are mostly things that I want to see. I keep my eye on Updates because there are sometimes, umm, updates that I want to know about like changes to travel schedules.
The thing I really dislike are brands using a phone number to let you know about sales etc. No, I don't actually need a new carpet this week.
We have Slack Connect channels with all of our customers (we're a small company), and I've since grown to hate it. At first, it seems like a quick way to have comms with customers, but then you realize it's a quick way to have comms with customers...
Because Slack is so frictionless, there was no barrier asking anything, including questions that were answered the day prior in the main channel or questions that are right in our searchable API docs. It also allows anyone to message, which also seems nice on the surface, but again, it ends up being awful.
Another example is that one of our customer's CS folks Slacks us their questions about their internal system, which we obviously have nothing to do with. This has been consistently like once a month for 2.5 years...
Email adds friction. Even though it's not much, I've found that customers of ours that used to be very bad signal to noise ratio who we've transitioned to email support have since reached out less with more valid support requests.
Customers that always preferred email over Slack were always like that. I assume that's actually because they're bigger companies that are waiting on five internal meetings before doing anything.
I really like Slack of internal communication, but email for external all the way.
I love the idea of emailing people with appreciation for things they've created.
I've considered doing this a few times, but have to admit I've never actually got round to sending people appreciative emails, maybe this blog post is the prompt I need.
There's a lot of makers on HN, has anyone here ever received emails about things they made?
I used to be fairly active on r/generative, someone once DM'd me to show me a pen-plot they'd made based off of something I'd made, and it made my whole week.
I've had a few emails, and a few contacts over Matrix over the years. Barely any though. My email and matrix id are both on my front page at https://www.grepular.com. I recently added a "Like" button at various places throughout the site, front page, end of articles etc, so a click, followed by typing an optional message and another click is all it would take. I've been wondering if people ignore it due to assuming it is somehow connected to social media.
I've had two or three articles I've written on my blog hit the HN front page, and each time I get one or two emails from some random person about it. It's great. A little connection that some human out there read a thing I wrote and it meant enough to them to write something back to me. I put my email on my stuff because I'm happy for people to use it :)
I used to feel apprehensive about emailing people until one day I just decided to power through and do it. I agree with the post, it's like you unlock an additional layer of communications. Everyone is suddenly contactable! I would also say that most poeple are really nice 1-1, I cannot remember a nasty reply (worst that happened to me was just my email being left ignored).
I would add that I love emails when they are written as emails (i.e. at least one coherent paragraph).
Email, as a medium, prompts us to think (at least for a few seconds), not "generate human tokens". Sure, we may feel being "communicative" or "productive" while chatting or Slack, but (in my experience) it is not always the case.
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I was basically working independently on a teaching task. But there was one coworker who had been there for a long time and was working more in outreach. She told me to install four(!) different instant messaging apps -- which I didn't do because while her job involved a lot of communicating with third parties, mine didn't. Besides, she was not my boss (formally - although I think she thought she kinda was. In any event, she did have a lot of influence on my actual supervisor.)
She insisted that that's mandatory for me to which I countered that the whole professional world works on email just fine, as far as non-internal communication is concerned. She started screaming at me in my own office how I had betrayed her by agreeing to install the apps but then didn't do it. I didn't think I agreed because I found the idea ridiculous from the get go. Anyway - I stayed calm and said we should talk again when she was calmer, too.
I later found out that she then schemed behind my back to have me laid off. Which obviously worked.
I must have really rubbed her the wrong way. But in retrospect, I'm really happy to have moved on to better places since.
In my experience, most mail user agents allow editing the Subject header. Even Outlook Web Application that I have to use in work allows me to change the Subject line when a conversation thread has veered off-topic, e.g., “Server replacement [was: Windows 11 upgrades of client PCs in Accounts]“
Most replies are very nice. People really feel seen and appreciated when I compliment them on their cool project and nice write up.
Even if no one replies, I would still send the occasional email, because I want independent websites/blogs to thrive and stay.
Reminds me of [0]
I love email and postcards. It's a bummer that the signal to noise ratio is so high with junk mail, but that makes genuine correspondence even more special. Long replies make you sit with someone else's perspective without interrupting longer than you would in normal conversation and I think that changes things dramatically.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message
The thing I really dislike are brands using a phone number to let you know about sales etc. No, I don't actually need a new carpet this week.
Because Slack is so frictionless, there was no barrier asking anything, including questions that were answered the day prior in the main channel or questions that are right in our searchable API docs. It also allows anyone to message, which also seems nice on the surface, but again, it ends up being awful.
Another example is that one of our customer's CS folks Slacks us their questions about their internal system, which we obviously have nothing to do with. This has been consistently like once a month for 2.5 years...
Email adds friction. Even though it's not much, I've found that customers of ours that used to be very bad signal to noise ratio who we've transitioned to email support have since reached out less with more valid support requests.
Customers that always preferred email over Slack were always like that. I assume that's actually because they're bigger companies that are waiting on five internal meetings before doing anything.
I really like Slack of internal communication, but email for external all the way.
I've considered doing this a few times, but have to admit I've never actually got round to sending people appreciative emails, maybe this blog post is the prompt I need.
There's a lot of makers on HN, has anyone here ever received emails about things they made?
I used to be fairly active on r/generative, someone once DM'd me to show me a pen-plot they'd made based off of something I'd made, and it made my whole week.
I've been tempted to put my email address directly on my personal site but just assumed I'd be flooded with automated spam. How have you found it?
Email, as a medium, prompts us to think (at least for a few seconds), not "generate human tokens". Sure, we may feel being "communicative" or "productive" while chatting or Slack, but (in my experience) it is not always the case.