The Etiquette of email
I can't quite figure it out, why people seem to be so lazy that they will do things because they're in a hurry, never thinking of the potential problems inherent in their seeming inability to think matters through to their logical conclusion.I'm using a fairly old computer, given the fact that as soon as a computer, updated with all the latest that technology can incorporate into new products, becomes outdated a month after purchase. In those terms this is one Methuselah of a computer, since it dates from the year 2000. Hey, that makes my little old computer six years old. Old, though, isn't how I view it. It's a spring chicken of a device, to me.
One of the first things my older son asked me when I told him I'd sprung for a new computer away back in January of 2000 was how much RAM did it have? Huh? I asked him...? Random access memory, he said, if you want a decent processing speed you need plenty. Well, I dismissed his concern, content in the knowledge that I had lots of space on this spanking new computer, and sure enough it blazed into action whenever I fired it up, dear thing.
This same son of mine cautioned me against sending byte-hungry messages, which would include things like photographs as they take a long time to download and, for that matter to send, if your computer wasn't in the costly workhorse category, which mine definitely was not. I'd even balked, back then, on spending an additional $300 to get a decent computer with a CD burner, reasoning I'd never need one, would I?
Well yes, I would, eventually. But I'm not ready to give up on this computer. It has more than enough room, although insufficient RAM, which I decided I'd augment by shopping around for some more RAM to slot into the dear thing. But since it's an oldie, it's hard to get additional RAM unless you know what your computer needs, so I did an on-line (free, yippee) diagnostic, which helped somewhat, but in the process I also got downloaded a nasty worm housed in a symbol identifying it for the nasty thing that it was and which I hastily began deleting, deleting, deleting, only to have a pop-up let me know it was incorrectly labelled and couldn't be deleted. Happily, through sheer persistence (and terror) I prevailed.
Why am I recounting this weary tale? Well, because indeed, my trusty old computer has become increasingly s-l -o-w and I wanted, naturally, to give it some pep so I'd no longer have to sit around, waiting, waiting until it got around to performing my pleading commands. I love taking photographs on my little digital camera, and then sharing the results with hapless friends and relatives. But doesn't it take an age to get them out?
Now here's the rub: Some people, having received my beautiful photographs in the emails I've gifted them with, just turn the email back to "reply", sending the entire thing, complete with photographs back to me with their added comments. Whatever happened to common sense? Even I, a neophyte, know enough to delete portions of an email I plan to respond to, particularly those portions holding photographs, not only to expedite my return email, but so as not to burden the recipient with additional junk.
So tell me why otherwise-intelligent, but obviously insensitive, and too-hurried individuals will think there is nothing amiss in turning my original email back around to me with their pithy comments?
Argh!
posted by Pieface @ Friday, February 03, 2006
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