4 ms·

The problem is that email is so broken, you could sort of fix it, but people have been trying for years and it's easier to start again. For example we still hav

by rythie 14y ago

The problem is that email is so broken, you could sort of fix it, but people have been trying for years and it's easier to start again. For example we still have these problems: - No proof that people are who they say they are, we have PGP/GPG but no one uses it. - Related to the above, I can't control who can send me email, people use different email addresses and any address can be faked anyway. - No accepted way to post short messages, people still post long email with big disclaimers and/or adverts at the bottom - Poor email client support for sending/receiving large numbers of pictures, with thumbnails and full versions - Lack of any real semantic support tags, share a single link, geo information etc. - No way to public display of your timeline (i.e. twitter) - No obvious way to have all contact's photos against emails [seems to be coming in now somehow, not sure how really] - Inability to remove content you accidentally sent - User expectations that email works in a certain way and doesn't need to change.

cdcarter 14y ago
Of these issues, I only see #1 and #4 as real. Some of them perhaps you could elaborate on? What do you mean by #3? I send short messages all the time. I just write a short message and hit send. Why would you even want #6? Email is designed as a private mechanism, this seems to go against the very reason I use email...
- rythie 14y ago
  Most people don't do #3 and without tools either limiting (twitter) or coaxing you (facebook) you get big run on messages, which you don't want to read. You want #6 because many people are trying to share you thoughts with everyone, and the post is titled "All you need is e-mail, e-mail. E-mail is all you need."
  - Zak 14y ago
    I may be in the minority, but I don't understand why most people on twitter wish to consume most tweets. Outside of a synchronous or semi-synchronous (e.g. IRC) conversation, It's pretty hard to say anything worth saying in 140 characters. I hate twitter and I hate tl;dr as a meme. HN as a community tends to encourage longer posts for the same reason; they're more likely to be interesting. It works better for sharing content, but I don't usually want to see all content that a particular person wants to share. Other mechanisms work better for getting a list of content to consume: RSS offers all the content from a particular source, and sites like HN and reddit show recent content that a particular community finds interesting. The only thing I see twitter as good for is disseminating facts to a large audience when a non-internet-capable phone is the the only communication tool available. It has served that function a number of times during war, natural disasters and other breakdowns of civil infrastructure. Even so, I'd rather consume someone else's aggregation of the facts rather than track down which users to follow myself and unfollow them after the event is over. That's what reporters (including bloggers) are for.
baudehlo 14y ago
> - No proof that people are who they say they are, we have PGP/GPG but no one uses it. Do you have that proof with any other communication medium? You have some level of authentication provided by the service provider, sure (e.g. with the phone), but it's far from perfect and unspoofable. - Related to the above, I can't control who can send me email, people use different email addresses and any address can be faked anyway. > Same problem with phone calls, letters, faxes. Doesn't mean those systems are broken. - No accepted way to post short messages, people still post long email with big disclaimers and/or adverts at the bottom There are other protocols for this. I think it's fine that email doesn't solve everything. > - Poor email client support for sending/receiving large numbers of pictures, with thumbnails and full versions Sounds like a client problem. > - Lack of any real semantic support tags, share a single link, geo information etc. This is a problem with open protocols. Not everyone wants to share the same things you do.

by rythie 14y ago

cdcarter 14y ago

Of these issues, I only see #1 and #4 as real. Some of them perhaps you could elaborate on? What do you mean by #3? I send short messages all the time. I just write a short message and hit send. Why would you even want #6? Email is designed as a private mechanism, this seems to go against the very reason I use email...

rythie 14y ago
Most people don't do #3 and without tools either limiting (twitter) or coaxing you (facebook) you get big run on messages, which you don't want to read. You want #6 because many people are trying to share you thoughts with everyone, and the post is titled "All you need is e-mail, e-mail. E-mail is all you need."
- Zak 14y ago
  I may be in the minority, but I don't understand why most people on twitter wish to consume most tweets. Outside of a synchronous or semi-synchronous (e.g. IRC) conversation, It's pretty hard to say anything worth saying in 140 characters. I hate twitter and I hate tl;dr as a meme. HN as a community tends to encourage longer posts for the same reason; they're more likely to be interesting. It works better for sharing content, but I don't usually want to see all content that a particular person wants to share. Other mechanisms work better for getting a list of content to consume: RSS offers all the content from a particular source, and sites like HN and reddit show recent content that a particular community finds interesting. The only thing I see twitter as good for is disseminating facts to a large audience when a non-internet-capable phone is the the only communication tool available. It has served that function a number of times during war, natural disasters and other breakdowns of civil infrastructure. Even so, I'd rather consume someone else's aggregation of the facts rather than track down which users to follow myself and unfollow them after the event is over. That's what reporters (including bloggers) are for.

baudehlo 14y ago

> - No proof that people are who they say they are, we have PGP/GPG but no one uses it. Do you have that proof with any other communication medium? You have some level of authentication provided by the service provider, sure (e.g. with the phone), but it's far from perfect and unspoofable. - Related to the above, I can't control who can send me email, people use different email addresses and any address can be faked anyway. > Same problem with phone calls, letters, faxes. Doesn't mean those systems are broken. - No accepted way to post short messages, people still post long email with big disclaimers and/or adverts at the bottom There are other protocols for this. I think it's fine that email doesn't solve everything. > - Poor email client support for sending/receiving large numbers of pictures, with thumbnails and full versions Sounds like a client problem. > - Lack of any real semantic support tags, share a single link, geo information etc. This is a problem with open protocols. Not everyone wants to share the same things you do.