Don't you just love those kinds of e-mail that make you wish that you had never opened it?  Most of the time I get frustrated when I get e-mails that are just a forward of another e-mail or the other person doesn't really participate in the communication.  We end up swapping 3 or 4 more e-mails just to get things resolved.  I mean, if it were a face to face conversation, they wouldn't just give you a half answer and then walk away like the conversation was over..would they?  How about e-mails where the person always requests a read receipt.  Come on, if it is that important call me on the phone.  I normally don't send the receipt unless I think it is important that they know I read their message.  I still like to be courteous.

My point?  Open Loops has two posts on "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People With Email".  Part 1 discusses the bad e-mails we get and deal with while part 2 gives suggestions on how to retaliate.  ;-)  Both are good reads and quite humorous too.  Below are a few that I liked and can relate too.

The Bad

• Have a long signature line – The longer the better.  Ten to fifteen lines would be right in this case.  Use it to publicize your uncle's life insurance agency or to tell every one about your grandmother’s real estate company.  Think of it as a billboard.  You might even be able to sell advertising space in your email signature if you send enough.
• Don’t tell the recipient why you’re sending the attachments – This is even sweeter when the attachments have strange names that give no clue as to what they are.  Big fun!
• Write your email to one person and send it to someone else – This works great when you are talking about the person you sent it to.  You write to Tim about what a [explicit removed] John is.  Then, send it to John.

Getting Back

• Use the “Reply to all” button — Use this if the email is sent to a lot of people and the subject is sensitive or confidential.  If the sender is doing some damage control on a mistake, capitalize on this now while everyone can know it.
• Misspell their name – No other word, in any language, is more important than one’s own name.  Use it and misspell it often.
• Ignore the topic when you reply — When you finally get around to replying to the person’s email, ignore the topic of the original email.  Even better, just send the reply but don’t write anything.  Later, send an email back why the person hasn’t replied to you.  For more fun, mention the deadline they “missed”.

I hope you went and read the posts.  You'll see a lot there that I'm sure you've rolled your eyes at when you see them in your inbox.