Top 10+ Ways to Annoy
People with Email
AHS Computing
1. Answer the Question
• If someone asks you a
question on email be
courteous and respond to
the question
• If for some reason you
cannot answer the
question at least
acknowledge that it was
asked
• By answering the
question you will likely
prevent a further email
being sent
2. Use a Meaningful Subject
• Try to use a subject that is meaningful to
the recipient as well as yourself
– Read Me! & Hey! Aren’t appropriate
• People may only initially read the subject
– If it doesn’t interest them or has no
significance then it might be unread for a time
• If there’s no subject sometimes the
message will go to SPAM/Junk Email
3. Urgent/Important & Read
Receipts
• This will almost always annoy your
recipient before he or she has even read
your message
• “The Boy Who Cried Wolf!”
• If it is important? Pick up the phone or go
visit the person
• Trust!
4. Not Replying in a Timely
Manner
• If you have an email account, part of your
responsibility is to reply
– Where appropriate
– In a timely manner
• An expectation exists to reply to co-workers,
supervisors, clients
• The email is complicated?
– just send an email back saying that you have
received it and that you will get back to them.
5. Replying to Everyone
• Do you really need to
reply to everyone?
6. Using your Inbox as an
Address Book
7. Attachments
• Do you really need to
send the attachment?
• Are you just cluttering
up someone else’s
Inbox?
• Can you post the file
to SharePoint or to a
webpage for
downloading?
7. Attachments
• The cumulative effect
of attachments
• Shared storage
– Decreased
performance
7. Attachments
• Attachments that have no more
information in them than the message
except maybe for some colored template
• Messages that have no information in
them and you have to open the
attachment to see what the message is
about
8. Use the cc: Field Sparingly
• CC’ing up!
– Letting the boss in on a heated email
exchange with a co-worker, mid-argument so
to speak, is a sure way to create serious
animosity that will probably be impossible to
overcome.
• Getting people to do something… FAST!
– cc’ing their supervisor
8. CC
• Try not to use the cc: field unless the
recipient in the cc: field knows why they are
receiving a copy of the message.
• The cc: field can be confusing since the
recipients might not know who is supposed to
act on the message.
• Also, when responding to a cc: message,
should you include the other recipient in the
cc: field as well?
9. Spelling & Grammar
• An email is a
reflection of who you
are
• Some are short &
some are verbose
• But if you do not spell
well what will others
think of you?
• Are you a spmmr? 
10. Jokes
• They were funny in
1999 but not any
more!
• Old ones are even
worse
– Especially when you
have to scroll down
through horrible fonts
to get to a bad punch
line
11. Signatures
• Do you need to put
your full signature in
EVERY email?
• Setup multiple
signatures
12. Formatting
• Over the top styles and formatting with
stupid graphics, complicated signatures
and coloured backgrounds
Formatting
Imagine getting an email like this?
13. Chain Letters & Hoaxes
• If you receive an email message warning you of a
new unstoppable virus that will immediately delete
everything from your computer, this is most
probably a hoax.
• By forwarding hoaxes you use valuable bandwidth
• The same goes for chain letters that promise
incredible riches or ask your help with a charity
• Since it is impossible to find out whether a chain
letter is real or not, the best place for it is the
recycle bin.
Have You Seen This Before?
Begin forwarded message:
From: [an e-mail address you don't know]
Date: December 26, 2011 11:24:10 AM CST
To: [approximately 18 lines of e-mails you don't know]
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS!!
-----Original Message----From: [another random yahoo you don't know]
To: [another half-page of e-mail addresses]
Sent: Sat, Dec 26, 2011 7:27 am
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS
14. Sending a Preamble of
Formatting Debris
• So you've just encountered a warning about
the health risks of paintballing or a series of
photos of albino dolphins, and you absolutely
must forward it on.
– You should begin by really asking yourself if your
recipients care to see this.
• But if you're going to send away, you rebel
you, at least do your hapless recipients the
courtesy of deleting the equivalent of
phlegmy throat-clearing: lines upon lines
15. Short is Best!
• Brevity is not rude
• Avoid run on sentences and try to explain
yourself with as few words as possible,
while making sure that what you are
asking for is clear
Bonus: Out of Office Reply
Example of a good Out-ofOffice message:
Dear Sender,
I will be out of office from May
27th, 2008 to June 26, 2008 and I
will be having limited access to
my email during this period. For
any urgent matters, please
contact Mr. Humpty Dumpty on
050-123-456 or email him
on [email protected]
Regards,
Yankee Doodle
Example of a bad Out-of-Office message:
Dear Sender,
I will be on vacation at a beach resort in Hawaii from May
27th, 2008 to June 26, 2008. I will be having limited
access to my email during this period.
Please contact the following people during my absence:
For matters concerning cabbage and cauliflower, please
contact Jack Thompson.
For reporting rotten cauliflower, please contact Charlie
Brown.
For issues related to onions and garlic, please contact
John Smith.
For issues related to onions without leaves, please
contact Charlie Brown.
For issues related to onion skin, please contact Jack
Thompson.
For anything related to vegetables, please contact John
Smith.
For queries related to legumes, please contact Charlie
Brown.
Anything else related to food that grows on plants,
please contact Jack Thompson
Regards,
Show-Off Jones
Bonus: Out of Office Reply
• Out-of-Office reply messages are really cool!
– They let the sender know that you’re not in town
so they need not expect an immediate reply.
– However, some people use the Out-of-Office to
write essays to explain at great lengths what they
are up to and what’s missing in the organization
because they are gone.
– I guess this is done by some users to show the
boss (and everyone else) that they are taking
care of a lot of responsibilities – the work of four
men, etc. Oh please!