Ted Rall’s email tips

In which I tell you you don’t know how to write email: http://www.breakingmodern.com/ted-rall-how-to-write-email-really/

6 Comments.

  • alex_the_tired
    November 9, 2014 5:58 AM

    I’ll offer one addendum:

    Use e-mail to control/win the conversation.

    Many people, especially younger people, are losing/have lost the capacity to draft sentences, paragraphs, essays. When you “derail” the exchange by sending an “adult” e-mail complete with full sentences, correct punctuation and so forth, you force the other person to either come up to your level (which they find uncomfortable or impossible) or to continue to chicken-scratch out tl;drs and LOLs, which makes them look unprofessional and unprepared (regardless of how prepared they are).

    In that sort of situation, people are frequently wiling to see it “your way” rather than drag out an e-mail exchange where they have to keep trying to write correctly.

    • @ alex_the_tired –
      I understand LOLs but what is meant by tl;drs ??

      • alex_the_tired
        November 9, 2014 8:26 PM

        tl;dr is a piece of Internet-specific vileness and one of the two most offensive things I have ever encountered online.

        Too Long; Didn’t Read.

        It’s only utility is that when I encounter it in an e-mail, I can neatly file that person — and their e-mails — in the cubbyhole reserved for those who simply aren’t worth a single moment of my time.

      • Okay – Thanks for the explanation, ’cause I never would have figured it out by myself. 🙂

  • “One way that I work around the urge to minimize my screen time by writing too short is to use dictation software like Siri.”
    —–
    Yet, this software is capable of “misunderstanding” and the written word can be different from what is actually spoken, as you are aware — all the more reason to read it before hitting “Send”! 🙂

  • If it weren’t for the emails I get showing massive, “naked” cc lists of co-adressees, I might think, given the new tech fads expanding like the early universe, that it was only me and 4 or 5 others who still use email.

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