Common Folk Collective » email

Your Email Signature

DCDan — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 19:46:56 +0000

You know the email signature that you often see something along the lines of:
“Disclaimer: This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately if you have received this email by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email.”

It is complete bullshit and you should treat it as such. If you’re sending confidential information in an unencrypted manner you are goddamn negligent and it’s not my fault you don’t understand the technology you are using. Could you imagine if you put the same disclaimer at the end of phone messages or conversations in general?

Well apparently the some of the employees at Goldman Sachs aren’t very tech savvy and have used what I imagine is their immense legal department, shit tons of cash and market influence to convince Google to literally delete a message out of someone’s inbox.

This sets a horrible precedent for Gmail users as Google is now willing to delete messages from people’s inboxes without their knowledge.

If you misaddress an email the protocol should be to send a follow up message saying “Hey, I fucked up and sent you a message I shouldn’t have, it contains information that I’d rather not release, would you be so kind as to ignore/delete it and as an apology I’ll buy you a fancy dinner.”

Not really.

Some Control Over Email

DCDan — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 20:53:59 +0000

I read a blog post today about changes made to Gmail’s interface and how they stress out the author. This is why for my email I alway use IMAP and a native mail client, that and since I have several accounts to check I don’t have to have 6 browser windows open at all times. SAAS is great until you don’t like the changes they make.

This Makes No Sense

DCDan — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 23:07:23 +0000

Can someone who has a connection at Travelocity or Ebay explain how it could possibly take 5 to 10 days to remove someone from an email list? I cannot imagine a technical reason.

I can get a car rental in seconds but to get off an email list takes at least 5 days.

Ebay apparently also has an a very dated system.

Facebook Copyright Notices

DCDan — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:12:17 +0000

In honor of the meme on Facebook I’m sharing the email signature that I would attach when replying to emails that came with a legal disclaimer. Feel free to use it as well.

This message (including any attachments) does NOT contain confidential information and may or may NOT have been intended for a specific individual and is most likely purposeless, yet is protected by ninja garden gnomes. If you are not the intended recipient, you should read this message as it will probably be funny and may contain juicy gossip. Any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly allowed and encouraged.

How to Annoy Me with Your Email

DCDan — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:49:02 +0000

I’ve had an email account for almost twenty years and I’m a software developer by day, as such I get a lot of email. Over the years I’ve developed a system of sorting and have a bunch of folders that handle a lot of annoyances that might fill up my inbox.

I don't do Inbox Zero

I also switch jobs every couple of years which means I don’t have the same level of rules and organization for work email. In fact my current 9 to 5 limits me to 500mb of email (yes I realize that 1994 called and they want their harddrive back). This means that I have to manually scan each email that arrives in my inbox. Here are a few things that will make me flip off my monitor and mock you behind your back.

Using the priority marker on email. First off I get to decide my priorities for the day, you don’t. Secondly, I have yet to receive an email marked high priority that was actually a priority. I wish they charged a hefty fee to send “priority emails,” it would make people think twice before sending them.
Legal disclaimers in your email.
The information contained in this communication may be confidential and is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) or entity(ies) named above. blah... blah.. threat, threat, threat
Really? First they mean absolutely nothing, have you EVER heard of someone in court because they didn’t follow the directives at the end of an email? Yeah, me neither. Secondly, if the information is confidential why are you sending it unencrypted? That is, at best, negligent.
When I get a message with a silly disclaimer I attach the following.This message (including any attachments) does NOT contain confidential information and may or may NOT have been intended for a specific individual and is most likely purposeless, yet is protected by ninja garden gnomes. If you are not the intended recipient, you should read this message as it will probably be funny and may contain juicy gossip. Any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly allowed and encouraged.
Email signatures that are longer than your message or contain images. I’m also glaring at people who use different fonts or colors.
You’ve sent an email in error, if it was an obvious mistake you do nothing. If you must follow up send an apology email. You know what you shouldn’t do? Send a recall, it will be recalled only for the other people in your office who haven’t opened it AND use Outlook. Everyone else will get a second email that says you are recalling the first email. I’ll share with you an Internet Fact: Using Outlook’s message recall makes your mistake look four times worse. (QUAD-DAMAGE)
“Replying all” to an office wide email informing you of something mundane like “The Second Microwave in the 10th Floor Kitchen isn’t Working” with “Thank you.”
I used to get annoyed with top-posting but I realized it was a losing battle.