RANT
I'm sure we all have our pet peeves, but one of mine is the lack of courtesy with email. I frequently get inquiries through my website (the Virtual Museum of Surveying) with questions about old instruments, history, etc. I take the time to reply (which I do not mind), but then I never receive any indication that they received the email - not even a simple "Thank you". And if I do a follow-up to confirm they received it, a response will finally come back saying yes. What has happened to common courtesy?
Does this bother other people? Or is it just me?
YES!
In all honesty, a "Thank you" or some form of acknowledgement is all I ask.
I was literally just thinking of this 2 min. before I saw your post.
EDIT -- I hate email read receipts, but I sometimes feel the need to do them. I'd hate to lose a job because I accidentally sent an email to the incorrect person.
Another pet peeve of mine is the people that send read receipts for EVERY SINGLE correspondence. 😀
AMEN
I really like it when multiple emails with endless questions can't even get a thank you at the bitter end. It is a fast paced ,screen faced society we live in now though and people move on to the next thing .......even me sometimes 🙁
Thank you.
😉
You're welcome.
strange...
I was thinking of sending you a pic of an old Gurley transit to help ID.
Thanks for the heads up! 😉
R
> I hate email read receipts, but I sometimes feel the need to do them.
Feel free to send them, but know that lack of a receipt doesn't tell you anything. I have my email client set not to acknowledge them. Whether and when I read my email is my business, not anyone else's -- not even the sender's.
Send it on.
ingram AT cfw DOT com
There are times and situations where acknowledgement is the right thing to do. I have been asked for plans or other information and gathered it up, scanned, researched it or done other efforts to get it sent. The lack of the recipients letting me know that they received it, has caused me to request read-receipts. If your asking someone for a favor and they respond kindly, you should always reply. If I get the impression that my help wasn't appreciated or needed, I'll not waste my time in the future.
I completely agree. Most of the problem seems to be with people age 50 and below. As most of you know, I also do a tremendous amount of WWII-related research particularly with 8th Air Force bombers. I have literally spent hours upon hours helping people figure out missions or other data for their fathers, grandfathers, uncles. I don't charge a fee, but my expectation is to receive an overwhelming "Thank You" for sending information they might have spent hundreds of dollars trying to figure out elsewhere. Then I email the data in a neat and concise format and await an acknowledgment. Nothing... Sometimes I send another message inquiring if they got the information. That usually prompts a "Yep, thanks". Response.
I did have an exception with the last guy I helped after I sent him pieces of his uncle's wreckage I had recovered from his plane. He insisted that he reimburse me for postage, so I said it was $6. He sent me a check for $50. I pay to keep a website going, so any donation like this is very welcome.
> I completely agree. Most of the problem seems to be with people age 50 and below. As most of you know, I also do a tremendous amount of WWII-related research particularly with 8th Air Force bombers. I have literally spent hours upon hours helping people figure out missions or other data for their fathers, grandfathers, uncles. I don't charge a fee, but my expectation is to receive an overwhelming "Thank You" for sending information they might have spent hundreds of dollars trying to figure out elsewhere. Then I email the data in a neat and concise format and await an acknowledgment. Nothing... Sometimes I send another message inquiring if they got the information. That usually prompts a "Yep, thanks". Response.
>
> I did have an exception with the last guy I helped after I sent him pieces of his uncle's wreckage I had recovered from his plane. He insisted that he reimburse me for postage, so I said it was $6. He sent me a check for $50. I pay to keep a website going, so any donation like this is very welcome.
Don't you really appreciate those like that last one!
B-)
You ever notice that sometimes (not often) some new guy will come on this site and ask a question and then never reply after 20 people offer different thoughts or solutions? Thank you, I read all the help offered might be in order.
When someone asks for help in doing something, I enjoy putting in mu 2 cents worth. If I get no response, I figure what I offered did not work. If so, I like to offer a second option. If you don't know if it helped, you cannot try again.
99.9% of the people here that I have sent stuff to have been overly gracious in their responses.
But then, this is really nothing hew. I can remember my parents insisting on "Please" and "Thank You" when I was little. Some people learn. Some do not. It has always been so and is probably just one of those things that will never change.
> There are times and situations where acknowledgement is the right thing to do.
Agree completely, it's only good manners. What I was referring to was the timing issue -- I consider the "when" of email reading to be a matter of privacy, so I don't acknowledge read receipts.
