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http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/01/luis-suarez/

I have never used e-mail much, and the majority of people I e-mail send me back replies with a handful of words or a link. Most of the e-mails I get that are not replies are crap that I delete without opening. What does Dakka think of this?

I believe you'll find that the point of the article isn't that e-mail is dead, but that e-mail has been used in the wrong way for the wrong reasons in most enterprises.

Even the guy who 'dumped e-mail 4 years ago' still uses e-mail, he just uses it for what it really should be used for i.e. directed, one to one communications that should not be held F2F, over the phone or on social media.

E-mail will always be useful for directed communication, but has a significant opportunity for improvement in the other areas where it has taken over.

No.

Email is, for example, one of the easiest ways to send files from one person to the other. My dnd players sent me their character sheet pdfs through email for example. Sure I could hvae used YIM or AIM, but why should I do that when email works just as well and I don't have to download a chat client-- and I have a permanent record of their sending it due to the way gmail works?

The permanent record is the main reason why email is so important for businesses, too.

Email is prevalent in the business world. Considering how much industry still uses fax machines, I don't think email will go extinct any time soon...

I receive ~95 emails a day.

In jobs where communication and paper trail is important (ie. most of them) emails are used a tonne. I also primarily communicate with my long distance girlfriend through email. It's faster and easier to use and read (and less distracting) than Facebook, which I am only on because a lot of my friends are.


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In jobs where communication and paper trail is important (ie. most of them) emails are used a tonne. I also primarily communicate with my long distance girlfriend through email. It's faster and easier to use and read (and less distracting) than Facebook, which I am only on because a lot of my friends are.

Frazzled wrote:I receive ~95 emails a day.

Weiner dog spam doesn't count.

Seriously though, I think the article was railing against this kind of behavior. I am guessing that those ~95 e-mails are not all directed communications to you appropriate for the medium.

As obsolete as messageboard forums.

I send and receive 30-40 work emails per day... couldn't do business without them.

Horst wrote:I send and receive 30-40 work emails per day... couldn't do business without them.

Same. And I send personal emails that need more than 1 or 2 sentences in a phone text.

kronk wrote:

Horst wrote:I send and receive 30-40 work emails per day... couldn't do business without them.

Same. And I send personal emails that need more than 1 or 2 sentences in a phone text.

Text messages make me rage. THey bring out the beast that stalks the night and slaughters innocent children. Evil incarnate, they are.

Try jobsearching without sending out a single e-mail.
No, e-mail is not dead. Trends are not universal, just because its use is declining doesn't mean it will disappear.

Hell phones haven't disappeared yet and they were around longer. Sure most of them are wireless/cordless now but still.

Melissia wrote:Hell, phones haven't disappeared yet and they were around longer. Sure most of them are wireless/cordless now but still.

Sorry, that irked me, had to correct it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_%26_Leaves

Oh please, the rules surrounding punctuation change practically every year. When I was in high school they changed the rule around lists (as in "item one, item two, and item three" versus "item one, item two and item three") no less than three times. And then there was a different set of rules to learn in college to boot.

Grammaticians (or whatever term they're using this week) don't get much respect from me, even if I prefer using proper grammar myself

Yeah but come on...HELL PHONES.

Joey wrote:Yeah but come on...HELL PHONES.

I lol'd.

The rules for punctuation don't change that much anyways.

pretre wrote:

Joey wrote:Yeah but come on...HELL PHONES.

I lol'd.

The rules for punctuation don't change that much anyways.

Yeah they do. English professors constantly disagree on them.

Melissia wrote:Yeah they do. English professors constantly disagree on them.

No, that means that English Professors are constantly changing which rules they want to use, not that the rules are changing. What have we learned? Do not meddle in the affairs of English Professors, for they are fickle and quick to anger.

Oh and BTW:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_comma

Ah, so that's the term for it. Amusingly enough, in high school I was taught to use it twice and to not use it once, and in college my English Composition 1 professor said to not use it, and then the English Comp 2 prof. said to use it.

I hate English professors.

Melissia wrote:I hate English professors.

Agreed, it, like a lot of the english language, is based on what particular brand of english you want to portray. If you look at the bottom of that article, it lists all the 'style guides' that approve of the serial comma and all the ones that don't. Kind of silly, but that is one part of the english language that few people agree on. Most reasonable folks allow either way.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Email is prevalent in the business world. Considering how much industry still uses fax machines, I don't think email will go extinct any time soon...

I can't tell you how much I hate fax machines, or how much more I hate calling up after sending a fax to check it got there.

Easy E wrote:As obsolete as messageboard forums.

What was a messageboard forum grandad?

Capitalization is typically more important than punctuation.

I helped my Uncle Jack off a horse.

I helped my uncle jack off a horse.

Joey wrote:Yeah but come on...HELL PHONES.

Whats the issue? They're really hot.

kronk wrote:I helped my uncle jack off a horse.

Can I go ahead and quote you on that?

George Spiggott wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Email is prevalent in the business world. Considering how much industry still uses fax machines, I don't think email will go extinct any time soon...

I can't tell you how much I hate fax machines, or how much more I hate calling up after sending a fax to check it got there.

I know. Whenever I help at my father's shop (small business owner and all that), I cringe at the idea of receiving or having to send a fax... it's such a pain. It'd be easier to just print out an email...

Melissia wrote:I know. Whenever I help at my father's shop (small business owner and all that), I cringe at the idea of receiving or having to send a fax... it's such a pain. It'd be easier to just print out an email...

Or, you know, communicate by e-mail. It amazes me that people still fax or mail this kind of stuff. I took an online college class recently where the teacher wanted me to mail my work to her. I eventually convinced her that scanning was probably a better approach.

Folks, it is the 21st century. Get with the program.

Well it's mostly paperwork that's the problem. They could email me a .PDF or at least a scanned piece of paperwork, that would be grand. But no. They fething FAX it to us. So they call, we have to get the damn fax machine working again, they fax it, then they call again asking if we got it. Why not just... scan and email? it's faster! And if you're gonna be sending it to a lot of people, why not just make it a pdf and email it so the recipients can just fill in the information themselves?

That's what I thought. I get most of the orders for my engraving business via e-mail. I just wish there were a way to take back knowledge of my e-mail address from certain entities who will not leave me alone.

warpcrafter wrote:That's what I thought. I get most of the orders for my engraving business via e-mail. I just wish there were a way to take back knowledge of my e-mail address from certain entities who will not leave me alone.

Heh. I have my own domain name. Every time I interact with a person, website or company, I give them their own e-mail address*. In cases where I have to post an address somewhere public, I create a throwaway address. I then forward all of these addresses to one e-mail box. When one starts going south, I block it. Works out pretty well.

* Example: Dakkadakka2@mydomainname.com

If I start getting spam at Dakkadakka2@mydomainname.com, I know which company to blame.