3 ms·

Email is fine. It's simple, it maps very well to peoples' intuitive real-world understanding of "mail" and it works. I've had the same email address for decades

Email is fine. It's simple, it maps very well to peoples' intuitive real-world understanding of "mail" and it works. I've had the same email address for decades. I get some spam, but I don't drown in it. I get more spam in the real (postal) mail, if you measure by the ratio of spam mail to legitmate mail. And I get real mail that is spam but looks legitimate on first inspection. It's generally very easy to identify spam email, and delete it. I can almost always do this by the sender and subject line alone, without opening the message. It takes less time to do this than it does to periodically peruse your spam folder for false postives. Encryption/digital signatures that rely on any kind of PKI architecture won't work, because most people don't understand it or won't trust it or both. What might work is ssh-like "trust on first contact." You get a signed email from a friend. You get a little notice "you haven't seen this signature before, do you want to trust it." You can turn it off if you don't want to bother with this, and you need to be able to easily revoke the trust if you make a mistake (so even this is getting complicated). The keys need to be generated with no more complexity than "ssh-keygen" (and I work with many people, college-educated, who can't manage even that). I'm in tech, I do it for a living. I don't sign my email, and I don't verify signatures on the signed email I get. If I don't think it's worth the bother, my mom certainly won't.

notriddle 5y ago
> I get some spam, but I don't drown in it. I get more spam in the real (postal) mail, if you measure by the ratio of spam mail to legitmate mail. And all it cost was IP reputation systems that undermine email’s claim to be decentralized, language heuristics that undermine its claim to be reliable, and greylisting that undermine its claim to be fast.
- insulanus 5y ago
  Don't forget the centralization that undermines its ability to be private!
rakoo 5y ago
> What might work is ssh-like "trust on first contact." Deltachat is working like that and I can't wait for the day everyone switches to an alternative client that behaves like it is from this century, like deltachat, instead of the last one. Who actually needs the following ? - open a different window (ie a different context) than the one you're currently in - a greetings line - quoting the entire mail you're replying to - the choice of whether you include an attachment inline or as a real attachment - threads that you can't have a glance at because messages are in different mailboxes (inbox, archive, Sent, ...) - having to click on each message to read the conversation instead of having it all in one view that you can just scroll (thanks Gmail for doing this correctly) - a custom signature no one really reads Email's basis works, but we still use it like we wrote snail mail. No one writes snail mail anymore. It's time we use it in a more modern manner.
- theamk 5y ago
  I use a lot of those in my work mail: - open in different window: all the time. I am writing one email and searching/reading email archive for context. Also just keeping an individual message open in a separate window as a reference, while using main email window regularly. - greetings line: I don't think it's a "feature" but I use it when starting a thread, especially when writing to people who I am not very familiar with. - quoting entire mail: pretty frequent, for example when adding a new person to an email thread. Also handy for selective reply, it is easier to delete parts you don't need from quoted email than to start from blank and copy from original email. - inline/attachment toggle: I don't think my email program has this - threads split across mailboxes: not very helpful. But the multiple mailboxes is must-have. - clickable message list: situational but occasionally helpful. Mostly when the is a thread with lots of messages, and you are looking for this rare message from the specific author. - custom signature: I am don't have one personally, but some people put their position, office location and phone number there, and this is pretty helpful. The email is different than instant messaging - it is harder to use, but is much more powerful if you learn to master it. The deltachat (judging by screenshots on their website) seems like a very basic and low-featured client, which unfortunately promotes bad habits in email, like writing short messages and expecting instant replies. I am glad it has not caught on.

notriddle 5y ago

> I get some spam, but I don't drown in it. I get more spam in the real (postal) mail, if you measure by the ratio of spam mail to legitmate mail. And all it cost was IP reputation systems that undermine email’s claim to be decentralized, language heuristics that undermine its claim to be reliable, and greylisting that undermine its claim to be fast.

insulanus 5y ago
Don't forget the centralization that undermines its ability to be private!

rakoo 5y ago

> What might work is ssh-like "trust on first contact." Deltachat is working like that and I can't wait for the day everyone switches to an alternative client that behaves like it is from this century, like deltachat, instead of the last one. Who actually needs the following ? - open a different window (ie a different context) than the one you're currently in - a greetings line - quoting the entire mail you're replying to - the choice of whether you include an attachment inline or as a real attachment - threads that you can't have a glance at because messages are in different mailboxes (inbox, archive, Sent, ...) - having to click on each message to read the conversation instead of having it all in one view that you can just scroll (thanks Gmail for doing this correctly) - a custom signature no one really reads Email's basis works, but we still use it like we wrote snail mail. No one writes snail mail anymore. It's time we use it in a more modern manner.

theamk 5y ago
I use a lot of those in my work mail: - open in different window: all the time. I am writing one email and searching/reading email archive for context. Also just keeping an individual message open in a separate window as a reference, while using main email window regularly. - greetings line: I don't think it's a "feature" but I use it when starting a thread, especially when writing to people who I am not very familiar with. - quoting entire mail: pretty frequent, for example when adding a new person to an email thread. Also handy for selective reply, it is easier to delete parts you don't need from quoted email than to start from blank and copy from original email. - inline/attachment toggle: I don't think my email program has this - threads split across mailboxes: not very helpful. But the multiple mailboxes is must-have. - clickable message list: situational but occasionally helpful. Mostly when the is a thread with lots of messages, and you are looking for this rare message from the specific author. - custom signature: I am don't have one personally, but some people put their position, office location and phone number there, and this is pretty helpful. The email is different than instant messaging - it is harder to use, but is much more powerful if you learn to master it. The deltachat (judging by screenshots on their website) seems like a very basic and low-featured client, which unfortunately promotes bad habits in email, like writing short messages and expecting instant replies. I am glad it has not caught on.