Timeline for Email etiquette, is it appropriate to bold my questions?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 10, 2014 at 22:54 | comment | added | Vietnhi Phuvan | @AlexP Unless you can't reach me, the alternative to a long email is to contact me. I have no trouble reading emails that are one to two pages long, assuming that the writing is coherent and the thinking behind the writing makes sense. But writing such a long email would kill the productivity of the individual who authored it. I agree that there are times when someone must bite the bullet and write. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 22:48 | comment | added | ApplePie | @ViethniPhuvan: I think maybe this is over reacting a bit. Sometimes long e-mails are unavoidable. Not all questions / answers can be written in 2-3 bullet points. Context may be necessary and extraordinary items must stand out. I agree that formatting should be used sparingly (I myself bold items about once every other month) but as any tool it should be used when it's needed only. I also agree with that being too much to-the-point can be just as counterproductive by leaving context or important details. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 11:59 | comment | added | User | I agree in general, but the only thing worse for my productivity then an overly long email was an overly short one. Either I have to email back for more details or respond to every contingency unspecified. Both waste time. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 11:53 | comment | added | Vietnhi Phuvan | @User Emails are expected to be short and to the point. Somebody who writes long emails and then has to resort to bolding to make what they are looking for - that's counterproductive. As a related aside, when your boss writes you a long email - watch out! It's not a good sign, because no one sits down and writes long emails unless they are seriously motivated. And if they are happy with you, they'll be much more likely to tell you in person than sit sit and write long emails to you about how happy they are with you. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 11:48 | comment | added | User | Wow ok, I am now too scared to use bold. In college I had a job responding to emails and whilst I never used bold in my reply (as it was on behalf of a company), I appreciated people who used bold to help me parse emails quicker and increase productivity. I guess in the real world I need to be more careful of peoples sensibilities, rather than going for efficiency. | |
| Oct 10, 2014 at 11:36 | history | answered | Vietnhi Phuvan | CC BY-SA 3.0 |