E-mail Etiquette??? Is there such a thing?

[Pembo]

I am so annoyed with my so-called family and friends that I e-mail. Tell me if I'm wrong---

I send an e-mail, not a chain letter or a forward, a legitimate e-mail with a personal message. They don't answer. No reply to the question I ask, no"got your message", no "go to he*&:, no NOTHING! Like it's so hard to just hit reply and type a " got your e-mail, I'll talk to you soon." ARGH!!!!!!!!

More than once I've e-mailed someone with a quick question, only to talk to them on the phone days/weeks later and they comment on the e-mail. HELLO, the advantage of e-mail is the instant response! DUH!!!!!!!!

And my family--one brother and niece in particular. They are impossible to get a hold of by phone, but I know they check e-mail daily. I e-mailed my brother 2 weeks ago, no answer! I feel like because I'm family I don't count. So frustrating!!!1 Of course this is the same brother that has forgotten our parents birthdays for the past few years. (He's 46, married, one child and successful--just very thoughtless I guess).

Does anyone have msn Hotmail? Can you get a return receipt? Then I'd at least know if they GOT my e-mail?

AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Princess_Aurora]

I ALWAYS reply to the actual e-mails I get from my family. If its junk or a foward though I delete it. I can't stand those.

 

[d.kurz]

If there is e-mail etiquette, I have lots of family and friends who are not aware of it. It's annoying as all he**. I'm trying to get a couple of events together and it's like pulling teeth. I think it's really rude to not respond to an e-mail. I'm not talking a chain or joke, but something I actually sit and write. Maybe we should write a book on e-mail etiquette.

 

[Banzai]

I don't know about the web based service, but if one uses Outlook Express to manage Hotmail, you can get read-reciepts.

Brad

 

[Muushka]

Sometimes I think I am the only one that thinks like you do!

It seems like the people that are so quick to forward a joke (more on THAT irritating thing later) are the same ones that cannot be bothered answering a PERSONAL Email! Why is that? Well, for me, I just don't bother to write to those people any more. It feels too much like rejection to me .

As for those famous forwards: I use Outlook. That means that for every person that forwarded that stupid joke, I have another email letter to click on (and then close). News to people that send me something that has the prefix "fwd"- I delete it. I am not that hard up for a joke to be bothered to go through all of that trouble. Does anyone use "COPY and PASTE"???????

Thanks, I feel better now

 

[Sunny]

There is no email etiquette (thankfully) and I hope it stays that way. Just because someone has decided to email me whenever they want, I should not have to respond. If I wanted to, I would. Some people are too chatty and even though there aren't any direct questions in their emails, they want you to chat back. "At least tell me you got the email"...... Hellooooo, how long have you used a pc? Of course, I got the email. If that's all they wanted to know, then they need to put a "return receipt" on it before sending.

 

[BrerMom]

Pembo, I agree with you. If I've gone to the trouble to send an e-mail, it's usually because I need an answer to a question. It really irks me when people don't e-mail back and I end up wasting my time calling them. "Oh, I was going to e-mail you, but I didn't have time."

There are some people that would prefer never to use e-mail; I can tell because they rarely return or check e-mail. I put them mentally on my "call only" list. I would prefer to not have answering machine messages, but that's just me. I will return the calls, but I usually end up listening to the message at least twice to get the info I need.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

Pembo, you are right to feel annoyed. Good manners don't end at the computer keyboard. Not responding to your e-mail is rude.