Come on, do you seriously believe that I'm arguing that 0 people read e-mails? What I was trying to convey is that you'll constantly be surprised at the number

Come on, do you seriously believe that I'm arguing that 0 people read e-mails? What I was trying to convey is that you'll constantly be surprised at the number of intelligent, educated, detail-oriented people who did not in fact read what you wrote. If you optimize your communications to assume this, you will become a better communicator. EDIT> There's another important subtext here. I've often seen the following pattern: developer is confronted with user behaviour, but continues to talk about "I do this, I do that", rather than internalizing that others do not do as he does.