Thursday Hate: Sending links as email subjects

Is it really that much of a pain to paste a link in your email’s body rather than the subject? Surely not! The effort it takes to type a quick description in the subject and paste a link in the body is exactly the same as doing the reverse. So why do people do this? I do not know of any email program out there lets you click a link that’s the subject of an email. Not Gmail, not Hotmail, not Yahoo, not Thunderbird, not Outlook. All it does is make you copy the link yourself and paste it in a new browser window, a process which itself is prone to error. So by sending a link as a subject, you are not only inconveniencing your friend, but you’re also taking a risk that the interesting content you want to share will not to reach your friend at all.

Is it just me or do others hate this?

Thursday Hate: Long emails that say absolutely nothing

I blogged before about corporate gibberish and I must say, this problem just keeps coming up. Perhaps people feel guilty about writing short emails, as if it’s being rude or it shows you haven’t spent much time thinking about the topic at hand. When in fact, it’s just the opposite. Clear, concise emails are things of beauty. They show the recipient that you have indeed considered all the angles and that you respect the value of their time as much as your own.

Golden rules for email:

• State your position clearly (even if it is “I haven’t decided yet”)
• Summarize the discussion to date (but only in one sentence)
• Write meaningful subject lines
• Never change subject lines (it upsets inbox sorting)
• Cut out extraneous platitudes

About the last rule, if you are writing someone for the first time in a while, obviously it’s acceptable to throw in a “Hope you’ve been well” or “How’s business?” or whatever. But the more often you write someone — and with internal emails especially — the less important it is to thank them profusely for their utmost kindness and greatest regards. It’s okay, really. You won’t offend me — I still love you!