A note about email and IM

too much

You can glean some info from the above screenshot, but once you're done there are a few other things which, if kept in mind, will make both our lives easier...

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot right now
  • My inbox for the site is out of control. I spent lunch knocking out most from today and yesterday, but there'll be plenty of new ones by tomorrow. I haven't been able to get the unread count under 200 in almost a month, and if it's still there but read it means it's something I need to follow up on or...

  • My usual delay is running longer than normal, because I'm trying to juggle several big things. Don't go yelling at me for "Blowing me off to write a 19 page article about a shareware game." I'm in info-triage mode again.

  • Do email me -- by all means -- but be aware that while I see them, it can be awhile till I get back depending on how many things I have going on. It's at the point now where people are emailing me, or IM'ing me, asking if I got their email... I'm not blowing you off, and I'm not "bigger" than you, the math is just frightening.

    214 unreads * 4 minute average = 14+ hours just to get through my Inbox as it is right now, which means I have to spread it out, which means I'm going to run on a delay.

    Different emails will require different amounts of time: Some are just making me aware of something, or saying thanks for turning them onto white russians. Some are asking a question, other are asking for other things... like to check out someone's app or beta. Questions abound about copyright and GPL and whether it's OK to do something, and how I became the go-to guy for all these little app writers is beyond me.

    This gets pathetic, because I'll go to check out someone's beta and the next beta is out... Some take 20 seconds to respond to, some take 20 minutes because I have to actually think. I could sit down and spend 14 hours catching up, but then I'd have to have skipped Entourage last night and wouldn't have made the little headway in my other projects for the site I did.

  • Keeping up with comments is off limits at the moment, or at least the way I used to. Keeping up with reading them and fixing typos and such is about all I can handle at the moment: Don't actually expect replies for the foreseeable future, it's just too backed up, especially if you've gotten one in the past. That math is horrifying.

Keeping the two-way aspect of DB is very important -- it's a good thing -- but if I'm not careful it'll soak up every bit of time it can get its hands on, which would be a bad thing. I've talked about this before, and I'm not trying to drive it into the ground, but as new readers come on they can sometimes miss the deal, get offended or think they've offended me, and then a whole wasteful spiral ensues.

I'm sure there are some best practices I'm not following that would improve the situation, but it's just how it is right now. I'll get to everyone, even the ones that are a month old, but for a few of you a little understanding would go a long way: Don't take it personally.

Oh, and do keep sending The Cows. Those make the Inbox worthwhile.

Just because I call you dildo, doesn't mean I don't love you

My IM was never hard to guess, and it's been on the site in a few ways. I don't mind if you instant message me, that's perfectly cool and welcome, but would ask for a few things:

  • Lots of others have the same idea, and some days I login and get hit with a barrage. If 15 people are messaging me, I'm going to prioritize by:
    1. Whether or not I actually know the person in real life.
    2. The likelihood of sex eventually resulting from the conversation.
    3. Whether or not it's related to the site, or things I do outside of the site.
    4. Whether or not what we're talking about relates to something I've got in the fire, or is time sensitive, or is just "Hey, how ya doing."

    Basically, just assume if you IM me there's a chance I'm going to be very delayed, and don't take it personally. Actually, if I'm not delayed, it could well mean I think I have a shot of sleeping with you, and you should be worried.

  • Please remember that you know who I am, but I have no clue who you are. When you message me saying "Hey", I don't know if you're an ex girlfriend about to yell at me for hooking up with her friend, the friend who now has my IM because of the ex, someone I've emailed and asked to IM me about a project, or someone who is just messaging randomly to say HI.

    "Hey." is polite, and a decent way to start a normal conversation, but it is immensely helpful if you start off letting me know who you are and what you're after, even if it's just to say "Hey." Introduce yourself.

  • I'm one of those people who doesn't bother to remember my own age -- when someone asks I just do the math from when I was born, because that way I just have to learn the equation, and not a new number every year. I'm a faces person, not a names person, and it takes me quite awhile to remember random people. I notice certain names in the comments often, and so they become familiar, but it can often just take awhile.

    As the numbers go up, it just gets worse, and if you message me and I have to ask who you are again, don't go apeshit on me or get offended, it's just not a strong suit of mine.

Lastly, if there is something you need, or that you'll want me to look at on a site somewhere that might take more than a few minutes, email it instead of IM'ing me and asking me to look at it. With email, it's on the plate, even if it's just on the edges. Feel free to IM afterwards asking about it or giving me a nudge, but if you IM first I'll just end up asking you to email it anyways, so we might as well save the hassle.

yummy alcohol posted button Posted by drunkenbatman
    August 22, 2005, at 05:48 PM


Comments (24)




Post a comment



Anonymous comments are allowed, but please enter something for a name.

And do endeavor to appear sane.









Remember personal info?