I get a fair amount of e-mail. If you want to communicate with me effectively, here is how to do so. If you consistently fail at this, your e-mail will end up in the trash.
- Don't waste my time - get to the point quickly.
- Don't top post.
- Some people think that the appropriate way to respond to e-mail is to include the complete thread of the e-mail with their contribution at the top. They are wrong.
- Top-posting uses up a ton more bandwidth.
- If your e-mail is not logically free-standing, you should rewrite it until it is.
- If I want to read previous contributions in a thread, I will either locate them in my e-mail client. If I do not have them, please oblige me and provide them on request.
- Don't send me large attachments.
- Don't send me Microsoft Office files.
- Don't send me files in complex formats when simple ones exist. ASCII, HTML, simple XML formats and so on are preferred over PDF and large graphics.
- Don't expect immediate responses. I do other things than just respond to your e-mails.
- Even urgent e-mails may not be answered quickly. That's because I do turn the e-mail pipe off and do other things.
- If your e-mail isn't urgent, I may not respond for quite some time. That's because I'm lazy and have other things in my life to do. Feel free to drop me a reminder.
(to be completed when I can be arsed)