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I'm willing to accept email is rigged. Who uses it for actual communication these days anyway? I use mine primarily to get lifecycle emails from webapps I tried

by lj3 10y ago

I'm willing to accept email is rigged. Who uses it for actual communication these days anyway? I use mine primarily to get lifecycle emails from webapps I tried once and to reset passwords. What's next, then? There have been lots of replacements for all of the old school protocols like IM and IRC. Even newsgroups have been (adequately?) replaced by forums and link aggregates and facebook. But, I've seen no attempt to replace email. I've seen lots of attempts to enhance email, but none to replace it completely.

mixedCase 10y ago
>Who uses it for actual communication these days anyway? People outside of tech bubbles.
- lj3 10y ago
  People outside of tech bubbles use snapchat, facebook or whatever chat program is popular this week. I know this because I can't get anybody to return my emails. :(
  - danieltillett 10y ago
    Maybe you should stop self-hosting your email server :) Defiantly there is a trend away from email outside of business, but in B2B email still rules. The ability to have a record of what was originally said and agreed to has saved my backside more than once.
marssaxman 10y ago
What do you use to communicate if not email? I use it constantly, as I have for years: one mailbox for work, one for personal stuff. My whole life flows through email, it sometimes seems. How else would it work?
- BatFastard 10y ago
  More and more so Slack, it acts like email, chat, server communications tool, quite handy.
  - marssaxman 10y ago
    Hm. I hear about Slack but have never actually encountered it and have no idea why it is so popular. Perhaps someday its social network will finally connect up with mine and I'll find out why people care.
- lj3 10y ago
  For the most part, facebook, twitter and sms. Trying to get people I know IRL to check their emails is a battle I lost about five years ago. If we're talking intra-company, then it's slack, hipchat, Yammer, google hangouts, trello, jira and whatever wiki system or wordpress is in use at the company I'm currently working for. Email for me, as I alluded to in my previous comment, is mostly about interacting with automated systems. If I need to reset a password, I'll get an email with a link. My car insurance company and web host will occasionally email me asking me for payment. Google emails me to let me know I've logged in using a computer it doesn't recognize (like my phone).
  - moray 10y ago
    I get a photographer, video maker or someone working in fashion (I am sure there are other cases, I know those) using facebook or <x social tool> for business communication because it is trendy or it is more convenient, but preferring it to emails? There is obviously a problem here, there is so much talk about privacy and confidentiality and then you give all your communication in the hands of one company. What I am trying to say is that there is a fundamental technical difference between emails and <faceslaktter>: The first is based on a distributed, well defined (RFCs??), open protocols and formats. The second? It is an application, running on the premises of some company...
    - lj3 10y ago
      Do you even read the posts you're replying to? Nowhere did I say I preferred closed platforms to email. I don't. I used the word "battle" in my previous comment for a reason. You're preaching to the choir. > I get a photographer, video maker or someone working in fashion (I am sure there are other cases, I know those) using facebook or <x social tool> for business communication because it is trendy or it is more convenient You know that's 99% of the world, right? You just described everybody but people who work in tech. How am I supposed to communicate with people who don't check their email? > The first is based on a distributed, well defined (RFCs??), open protocols and formats. Insecure open protocols and buggy formats. You know all emails travel in the open air, right? This was the primary reason I suggested we replace it, with a system that is secure, easy to use and that people can control.
herbst 10y ago
Email has not be to replaced, email just needs a better representation. IMO Inbox by Google fixed that issue for me.

by lj3 10y ago

mixedCase 10y ago

>Who uses it for actual communication these days anyway? People outside of tech bubbles.

lj3 10y ago
People outside of tech bubbles use snapchat, facebook or whatever chat program is popular this week. I know this because I can't get anybody to return my emails. :(
- danieltillett 10y ago
  Maybe you should stop self-hosting your email server :) Defiantly there is a trend away from email outside of business, but in B2B email still rules. The ability to have a record of what was originally said and agreed to has saved my backside more than once.

marssaxman 10y ago

What do you use to communicate if not email? I use it constantly, as I have for years: one mailbox for work, one for personal stuff. My whole life flows through email, it sometimes seems. How else would it work?

BatFastard 10y ago
More and more so Slack, it acts like email, chat, server communications tool, quite handy.
- marssaxman 10y ago
  Hm. I hear about Slack but have never actually encountered it and have no idea why it is so popular. Perhaps someday its social network will finally connect up with mine and I'll find out why people care.
lj3 10y ago
For the most part, facebook, twitter and sms. Trying to get people I know IRL to check their emails is a battle I lost about five years ago. If we're talking intra-company, then it's slack, hipchat, Yammer, google hangouts, trello, jira and whatever wiki system or wordpress is in use at the company I'm currently working for. Email for me, as I alluded to in my previous comment, is mostly about interacting with automated systems. If I need to reset a password, I'll get an email with a link. My car insurance company and web host will occasionally email me asking me for payment. Google emails me to let me know I've logged in using a computer it doesn't recognize (like my phone).
- moray 10y ago
  I get a photographer, video maker or someone working in fashion (I am sure there are other cases, I know those) using facebook or <x social tool> for business communication because it is trendy or it is more convenient, but preferring it to emails? There is obviously a problem here, there is so much talk about privacy and confidentiality and then you give all your communication in the hands of one company. What I am trying to say is that there is a fundamental technical difference between emails and <faceslaktter>: The first is based on a distributed, well defined (RFCs??), open protocols and formats. The second? It is an application, running on the premises of some company...
  - lj3 10y ago
    Do you even read the posts you're replying to? Nowhere did I say I preferred closed platforms to email. I don't. I used the word "battle" in my previous comment for a reason. You're preaching to the choir. > I get a photographer, video maker or someone working in fashion (I am sure there are other cases, I know those) using facebook or <x social tool> for business communication because it is trendy or it is more convenient You know that's 99% of the world, right? You just described everybody but people who work in tech. How am I supposed to communicate with people who don't check their email? > The first is based on a distributed, well defined (RFCs??), open protocols and formats. Insecure open protocols and buggy formats. You know all emails travel in the open air, right? This was the primary reason I suggested we replace it, with a system that is secure, easy to use and that people can control.

herbst 10y ago

Email has not be to replaced, email just needs a better representation. IMO Inbox by Google fixed that issue for me.