mind your electronic p's and q's

I've been extremely frustrated by people this week.  I sent emails to five different friends five days ago and I haven't heard a single word back from any of them.  Zip, zero, zilch.  While I realize that they are all busy people leading much more exciting lives than I do, it only takes a second to write a reply of one word like Thanks or Wow, simply letting me know that the message was received.  Instead, it's been dead silence from all of them and I find it immensely irritating.  It's not that I was commencing with chit-chat, talking about the weather, etc.  I was informing four of them about a situation going on around here that they might be interested in and now that I haven't heard anything back I don't know if I should keep them updated or if they just don't care.  I certainly hope they care.  And if they don't, then they should tell me that so I don't waste my time typing to them. The last one I asked a direct yes or no question to...a pretty important question at that - and no time for a one word answer.  Amazing!

Part of me wants to stomp my feet and cross my arms and say, "Fine!  See if I ever send you another email again."  There's also the low self-esteem part of me who thinks that they find me too annoying or insignificant to bother with.  But the more mature part of me is going to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe it's just that they haven't learned proper email etiquette.  Here is where I can help!

I've found a wonderful website called NetManners.com and on that site is a lovely list called Email Etiquette 101.  On that list, at number six, is this courtesy:  Always Respond Promptly (and Down-Edit).  Here it states: Responding promptly is the courteous thing to do. Don’t let folks wonder if you received the email or are ever going to respond to their communications. Think about how quickly you would return a phone call or voice mail. Email is no different especially considering most onliners have expectations of a faster response since email is received so quickly. Outside of any emergencies such as surgery or lack of connectivity, always respond as soon as you can. If you need more time, longer than 48 hours, to gather your thoughts, simply pop off an email stating you are planning on responding in more detail and when.  Sounds pretty logical, doesn't it?  (Of course, they're not very good at returning phone calls either, but let's not get into that.)

I'm learning from this website too!  I didn't know that editing out parts of the email that you're responding to was also a common courtesy, so I'm going to start doing that from now on.  I must have been annoying the hell out of people I was corresponding with.  For that, I wholeheartedly apologize with the promise that it won't happen again.

Hopefully putting this out there for the world to see will help those, like me and my friends, who are still learning as we go through this confusing world of electronic mail.  In the meantime, I will try not to take the lack of return communication personally.  May we all correspond in peace and harmony.