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Email Use Runs Out Of Control
from the you've-got-mail dept
Email has become a burden for many people -- what was once a useful communications medium has now been overrun with useless messages, becoming yet another source of the constant interruptions that make up a workday and beyond. WIth forwarded messages and other "friendly spam", inappropriate replies, email's role in office politics, and people's addiction to checking their email, it's not hard to see how it could become a problem for some people. It's symptomatic of pretty much any communications platform: it's fine when it starts, gets increasingly annoying as it gets more popular, reaches a saturation point where it becomes almost useless, then settles down again when people get their sense back and/or move on to the next big thing. The original article mentions a guy who got so frustrated with the amount of email he got at work that he quit and became a consultant that helps clients "wrestle down their e-mail" -- that might be a bit extreme, but an extra added dose of common sense, particularly for the worst offenders, wouldn't be a bad idea.
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Typo - Quit instead of quite.
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Sorry. Thanks for pointing it out. Fixed now.
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omfg. who cares.
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Use common sense
While we can never be 100% certain to prevent important email addresses from being spammed, people can take a few simple steps to avoid getting their work email bombarded with adds for penis enlargement, low mortgage rates, etc. First, DON'T give out your work or most private email addresses to anyone not absolutely needing it. Even when making work-related purchases, us an alternative email address, such as gmail or yahoo. Also, I notice that many people seem to think they should have only one or two email addresses, but I suspect that most readers of this site have many addresses, each serving a particular purpose or audience. I have about a dozen email addresses of varying priority levels, some of which I never use because they have such poor spam filters. One or two of these are used for subscriber lists, accessing downloads, and anything else I suspect to result in spam. One of these gets about 2,000 junk emails a day, 99% of which are filtered. However, you have to TURN the FILTER ON. I use one or two web-based email addresses for electronic banking and bill payment and am rarely spammed on these. Finally, I closely gaurd my work and cell phone addresses to prevent being effected at work or on my cell phone bill. Another trick I use is to supply minor mispellings or alternatives to my name when 'forced' to provide this information online. This way, I readily see that emails are not for me. Finally, don't fall for phishing attacks! Come on, do you really think that you're going to get rich by clicking an email? If you aren't expecting an attachment or aren't sure, don't open it!! This all seems common sense to me, but I am surprised by the reactions I get when I suggest it to some people--More than one email address? How do I do that? You can filter spam? Following these SIMPLE guidelines will make your email reading & writing much simpler. Nothing is perfect, but I've only had a couple spam emails on work email addresses and only a handful of legitamite emails junked over the last 8 years. Use common sense and take some accountability for your email accounts!
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most useless article ever
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I'll second that.
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Re: Use common sense
cycle003 says> More than one email address? How do I do that? You can filter spam
And with that, you now have to log into multiple email accounts, AND filter spam from the good messages (or messages which you consider worthwhile)
spam is spam - no one likes having to deal with garbage that they didn't ask for. why should i be forced to have multiple accounts with multiple passwords... just to filter out the CRAP that I never asked for in the first place.
Your analogy of having multiple email accounts is horrible. I get plenty of junk mail at my home address, which I just throw away -- now you are suggesting that I also get a PO Box, so that could be checked as well, just so I have something more to throw away? Why not just send me the mail I asked for and leave me out of all the junk email circles. Heck -- If I were to purchase an item, i am much more likely to purchase through my research and ME COMING TO YOU - rather than through a blind/random advertisement that was sent to me through postal/email.
I see junk-mail and email the same -- please don't have me through out YOUR unwanted crap, do it yourself.
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Re: Happy user's comments to Use common sense
I agree that it is unpleasant to get spam and junk mail in your USPS mailbox, but neither of these are going away anytime soon. Unfortunately, there is little we can do about junk mail coming to our homes and purchasing a PO Box will not solve the problem and will actually cost money. I know for some simple-minded people it's soooooo hard to use more than one email address. you know you're going to get spammed, so take some precautions. If it's too much work, then just keep filtering the spam.
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