Email I agree is considerably different. I think of it as fitting a different niche, but I'm admittedly not sure how most people use it. I don't consider it to

Email I agree is considerably different. I think of it as fitting a different niche, but I'm admittedly not sure how most people use it. I don't consider it to be "conversation" in the same way as IM, IRC, or talking on the phone are conversation, though I guess you could use it that way. I try to use it more for intellectual exchange than personal conversation, in bigger, less frequent chunks. Same with HN comments or blog posts, for that matter, or even old-style letter-writing or office-memo circulation.