{"id":4003,"date":"2012-12-30T23:24:42","date_gmt":"2012-12-31T03:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richard.rathe.org\/?page_id=4003"},"modified":"2014-04-11T13:28:07","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T18:28:07","slug":"email-manifesto-by-richard-rathe","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/email-manifesto-by-richard-rathe","title":{"rendered":"Email Manifesto (Incomplete)"},"content":{"rendered":"

About a year ago I decided to put down my thoughts concerning the dubious\u00a0state of Internet mail. I made a good start, but have not found the time to complete the project. So I decided to publish this incomplete draft in the hope that this will stimulate me to finish it.<\/em><\/p>\n

These opinions are my own. Feel free to disagree agreeably… RR<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/h2>\n

Email Manifesto<\/h2>\n

April 2014 Draft by Richard Rathe<\/h3>\n

The most dangerous thing about communication is the assumption it has occurred.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>\u2014\u00a0Paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw<\/p>\n

With increased technological capability, we will substitute communication for planning.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/em>Espen Andersen<\/p>\n

A word, once sent abroad, flies irrevocably.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/em>Horace<\/p>\n

The means we use to communicate are more elegant and important than what we have to say.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Andy Rooney<\/p>\n

\"email-hydra\"<\/p>\n

Email started out as an exciting and useful tool.<\/span> You could communicate with someone on the other side of the country in just a few seconds for free. It was liberating! How times have changed… Today email has morphed into a multi-headed, multi-threaded monster<\/strong> that many of us would love to cut down to size. It has become the lowest common denominator<\/strong> for electronic communication\u2014frequently abused and\u00a0massively overused<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Internet Electronic Mail<\/strong> (defined by documents with titles like RFC 5321 and RFC 5322) is a vestige of a more genteel age (the 1980s). Back then you would exchange email addresses with people you actually wanted<\/em> to communicate with. The system was designed by and for computer-savvy professionals who trusted<\/strong> each other. Like nuclear scientists, these well-meaning engineers did not anticipate what would happen when their invention inevitably fell into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n

What happens when a system based on interpersonal relationships and trust<\/strong> meets the faceless, predatory jungle of the global Internet? Let’s just say it hasn’t been pretty.\u00a0In this manifesto I wish to call attention to the most common pitfalls and offer solutions where they exist.<\/p>\n

Much of our pain stems from asking email to do things it wasn’t meant to do. We should simply stop using email<\/strong> in these situations. Other problems arise when email becomes part of office politics<\/strong>. Our leaders should intervene when this occurs. Finally, email is just “too damn easy” and this makes us lazy<\/strong>. To paraphrase\u00a0Abraham Maslow, “When the only tool you know how to use is email, the solution to every problem is sending another message.”<\/em>\u00a0Email is a useful tool, but its utility and proper use have limits!<\/p>\n

No Verification<\/h3>\n

For practical purposes there is no such thing as return receipt<\/strong> for an email message. Email standards define such a thing, but email clients have never supported it in a robust way. Clever emailers have discovered a trick with HTML-based email to track who has opened a particular message. This is considered spyware<\/strong> by some and is hardly a strong foundation for serious communication.<\/p>\n

Junk Mail and Junk Mail Blockers<\/h3>\n

“Spam<\/strong>,” phishing<\/strong>, Trojans<\/strong>, and various other fraudulent schemes beset us on all sides. In reaction to these threats we\u00a0filter out “suspicious” messages as junk mail<\/strong>. Or messages from certain domains may be blocked entirely. Inevitably good messages are caught up with the bad<\/strong>. This brings \u00a0new meaning to the phrase “I’m dead to you.” Examples:<\/p>\n