EER Rant Chapter 3: Use Your Address Book

This topic is mostly inspired by a misuse of subject lines, but I thought it deserved its very own post.  This is a rare ettiquette violation because most people are not this lazy... But, because there are a couple of people in my email world who really are this lazy, I thought I'd articulate a bit because I feel like I actually conquered this bad habit.

I have a client who didn't want to add my name to address book because clicking on the option, "Add sender to address book" was too daunting.  Instead, he'd search through his prolific inbox (he doesn't delete anything and is usually in trouble with his email admin) for a previous email from me and then hit "reply" and start a whole new conversation.

Drove me out of my gourd:  I thought the issue was resolved, is it a problem again?

It happened enough that I finally started leaving those messages unopened until he emailed again asking if I'd addressed the issue.  Then I responded with, "Oh.  I didn't even look at the email because I thought it was a closed issue."  After five rounds of that, the dipshit added me to his address book.

I was recently involved in a long email conversation with a friend.  I think there were more than twenty emails in the thread.  Then there was something that she wanted to make sure I didn't pass over in our casual conversation, so she started a different thread with a different subject line.  I was delighted!  A kindred spirit.  That's EXACTLY how email needs to be used.  And you know who you are!

There is one exception to this rule:  Do not put me in your address book if you use Yahoo Mail.  Every single person that I correspond with that uses Yahoo Mail has sent me spam/virus mail.  Every single one.  On a quarterly basis.  I have sent important business emails to the same Yahoo mail users that have ended up in their spam mail despite the fact that I am in their address book.

I know you love yahoo.com because it was one of the firsts and everyone in your world has that email address.  Hard Truth:  They are making money off you even though they gave you a free email.  They may protect you from spam email, but they do not protect the people you correspond with.

Your friends, however, think you need to go to gmail.com.  Just like Facebook and Yahoo, Google is making money off you when you sign up for a free email address.  Difference is that they've never pretended that they aren't making money.  Google is upfront about the fact they want to change the face of the world while making a whole bunch of money.  Just do it.  www.gmail.com.