6 ms·

Canned Emails – a minimal site with prewritten emails

137 points by davidmerriman 12y ago

madeofpalk 12y ago
Neat. Would be handy though if you could preview the text without it opening a mailto
- kspiteri 12y ago
  I think this is the first site I came across that is easier to read as source.
  - Jipha 12y ago
    Ha, true. It's not too bad actually.
rubiquity 12y ago
I can tell these are written really well because the voice that I hear in my head as I read them is your typical insincere Silicon Valleyite. Well done!
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
curiously 12y ago
nothing happens when I click on the links.
- vidyesh 12y ago
  It is using the mailto URI, so if no mail client is set to default for you nothing would happen.
bonn1 12y ago
Still I don't know how to avoid that the annoying Apple mail program opens all the mails and not Gmail's compose view within in the browser. Thus, I'd also agree to just get a text preview from the text and maybe not just one version but many curated from users as a next feature.
- lstamour 12y ago
  While on Gmail, in e.g. Chrome, look in the address bar for a symbol like <> and click it. More info: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1382847?hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1382847?hl=en
  - antoniuschan99 12y ago
    Thanks! this works!
bramgg 12y ago
Today I contributed to the greater good of society: var output = ""; $('h2 a').each(function(i) { output += "TITLE: " + $.trim(this.innerHTML) + "\n"; var email = decodeURIComponent(this.href).slice(13).split("&subject="); output += "SUBJECT: " + email[1] + "\n"; output += "BODY:\n" + email[0].replace(/\n( )+/g, "\n") + "\n\n\n\n"; console.log(output); }); That being said I love the site :)
- hippich 12y ago
  console.log(output); needs to be last line outside each() :) Or move var content = "" inside each()
  - bramgg 12y ago
    Whoops, you're right, console.log was supposed to be at the very bottom of the script. By default most browser consoles scroll you to the bottom of the output, so I just read the first half scrolling up and never noticed. No matter, amarraja's version is much better.
- amarraja 12y ago
  Slightly tweaked your script to display inline $("h2 a").each(function(){ var email = decodeURIComponent(this.href).slice(13).split("&subject="); var subject = email[1]; var body = email[0].replace(/\n( )+/g, "\n"); var parent = $(this).parent("h2") parent.after($("<div />").text(body)); parent.after($("<h4 />").text(subject)); });
  - bramgg 12y ago
    This is great! For anyone wondering, use this one.
  - benbowdene 12y ago
    SO much easier reading it this way :D
SomeCallMeTim 12y ago
"apologize from problem / bug" should be "apologize for..." Otherwise, very cool.
k_sze 12y ago
The fact that there's a canned e-mail for breaking up is slightly disturbing.
- placebo 12y ago
  Just slightly? This is what led me to believe at first that the site is meant to be humorous and not something serious. Why not add a canned mail for "will you marry me?", "Your parents were involved in a crash" and "you have 6 months to live" ? Also, if someone will send me an "Hey. How's it going?" canned mail, I can assure you they won't be hearing from me. I admit I find it hard to fathom how someone would have such a lack of respect for their relationships with other people (and therefore, implicitly, lack of respect for themselves) that they would actually use this for personal communication.
  - hoipaloi 12y ago
    Hi Placebo how's it going? I saw those pictures you posted on Facebook recently (omg that plate of food you were eating looked so delish!), they sure brightened up my day. They also reminded me it's been awhile since we've spoken and I miss catching up with you. We should plan to see each other in some future non-specific event, let me know when you think it's a good time and I'll send you my public Google calendar so you can check if I'm busy that day. I also want you to know how special your friendship is to me and that you should feel free to reach out to me with a direct message on Twitter at any time. Well placebo, I'm glad we had this talk, have a great day!
thefox 12y ago
You should never ask to ask for a question. And you shouldn't announce your question. Just ask.
- Aoyagi 12y ago
  Similarly, I believe you shouldn't ask strangers how are they or even use it as a greeting.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - jamestnz 12y ago
    It helps to understand that asking how someone is at the start of a conversation should generally be interpreted as a social convention rather than a literal question. The socially correct response is either something like "fine", or to repeat the question. Note that if you're going to answer it as a question, the correct answer is always "fine" regardless of whether one really is fine; if you said something like "terrible" you'd be obliging a stranger to pry into your personal business. The fabric of society is very complex, as someone once said. These are all valid in various dialects/registers of native English: Greeting: How are you? Response: Fine, thank you - Greeting: How are you? Response: How are you? - Greeting: How do you do Response: How do you do - Greeting: Sup Response: Sup
thefox 12y ago
It would be better if you set the body for each email with JavaScript and the new lines with "%0A" instead of the indented HTML code. Or don't use indented HTML code for the body blocks. The indented HTML code has also effect of the style of the email: the first line is normal, the second line and all following lines are indented with 25 spaces. This looks strange. However, I like the idea of this website.
huhtenberg 12y ago
Ironically enough clicking on "apologize from problem / bug" crashed Firefox.
daledavies 12y ago
The email body seems to be prefixed with the following, which is showing in my webmail editor (Roundcube). Is it a problem with my configuration or this site? <body><p>
- detaro 12y ago
  The text the site tries to put in the mail is pure text, not HTML, so I'd think it is Roundcube that is messing it up.
Aoyagi 12y ago
Wow, so much potential. There's some weird formatting going on though. I might be using slightly old and lightweight e-mail client (M2 in Opera12), but I still don't think it should look like this http://puu.sh/fTYSp/c4f0a3bb84.png http://puu.sh/fTYSp/c4f0a3bb84.png
- zufallsheld 12y ago
  Same thing happening with 31.4.0 on Arch Linux.
- feld 12y ago
  same with Mail.app on OSX 10.10
- mixmastamyk 12y ago
  It's because of the templating, each secondary line has a lot of space in front. Could be fixed if the template/source were left aligned.
striking 12y ago
I thoroughly enjoy the fact that there's a breakup email. Hopefully we'll get more canned emails in the future.
username223 12y ago
Does their "unsubscribe aggressively" link work for their own site? I never want to see anything generated by this.
tobyhinloopen 12y ago
Thanks, I really needed the breakup letter!
bcx 12y ago
This is pretty awesome, thanks dave!
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
maxxxcohen 12y ago
This is so misleading, clearly they are not prewritten.

137 points by davidmerriman 12y ago

madeofpalk 12y ago

Neat. Would be handy though if you could preview the text without it opening a mailto

kspiteri 12y ago
I think this is the first site I came across that is easier to read as source.
- Jipha 12y ago
  Ha, true. It's not too bad actually.

rubiquity 12y ago

I can tell these are written really well because the voice that I hear in my head as I read them is your typical insincere Silicon Valleyite. Well done!

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

curiously 12y ago

nothing happens when I click on the links.

vidyesh 12y ago
It is using the mailto URI, so if no mail client is set to default for you nothing would happen.

bonn1 12y ago

Still I don't know how to avoid that the annoying Apple mail program opens all the mails and not Gmail's compose view within in the browser. Thus, I'd also agree to just get a text preview from the text and maybe not just one version but many curated from users as a next feature.

lstamour 12y ago
While on Gmail, in e.g. Chrome, look in the address bar for a symbol like <> and click it. More info: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1382847?hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1382847?hl=en
- antoniuschan99 12y ago
  Thanks! this works!

bramgg 12y ago

Today I contributed to the greater good of society: var output = ""; $('h2 a').each(function(i) { output += "TITLE: " + $.trim(this.innerHTML) + "\n"; var email = decodeURIComponent(this.href).slice(13).split("&subject="); output += "SUBJECT: " + email[1] + "\n"; output += "BODY:\n" + email[0].replace(/\n( )+/g, "\n") + "\n\n\n\n"; console.log(output); }); That being said I love the site :)

hippich 12y ago
console.log(output); needs to be last line outside each() :) Or move var content = "" inside each()
- bramgg 12y ago
  Whoops, you're right, console.log was supposed to be at the very bottom of the script. By default most browser consoles scroll you to the bottom of the output, so I just read the first half scrolling up and never noticed. No matter, amarraja's version is much better.
amarraja 12y ago
Slightly tweaked your script to display inline $("h2 a").each(function(){ var email = decodeURIComponent(this.href).slice(13).split("&subject="); var subject = email[1]; var body = email[0].replace(/\n( )+/g, "\n"); var parent = $(this).parent("h2") parent.after($("<div />").text(body)); parent.after($("<h4 />").text(subject)); });
- bramgg 12y ago
  This is great! For anyone wondering, use this one.
- benbowdene 12y ago
  SO much easier reading it this way :D

SomeCallMeTim 12y ago

"apologize from problem / bug" should be "apologize for..." Otherwise, very cool.

k_sze 12y ago

The fact that there's a canned e-mail for breaking up is slightly disturbing.

placebo 12y ago
Just slightly? This is what led me to believe at first that the site is meant to be humorous and not something serious. Why not add a canned mail for "will you marry me?", "Your parents were involved in a crash" and "you have 6 months to live" ? Also, if someone will send me an "Hey. How's it going?" canned mail, I can assure you they won't be hearing from me. I admit I find it hard to fathom how someone would have such a lack of respect for their relationships with other people (and therefore, implicitly, lack of respect for themselves) that they would actually use this for personal communication.
- hoipaloi 12y ago
  Hi Placebo how's it going? I saw those pictures you posted on Facebook recently (omg that plate of food you were eating looked so delish!), they sure brightened up my day. They also reminded me it's been awhile since we've spoken and I miss catching up with you. We should plan to see each other in some future non-specific event, let me know when you think it's a good time and I'll send you my public Google calendar so you can check if I'm busy that day. I also want you to know how special your friendship is to me and that you should feel free to reach out to me with a direct message on Twitter at any time. Well placebo, I'm glad we had this talk, have a great day!

thefox 12y ago

You should never ask to ask for a question. And you shouldn't announce your question. Just ask.

Aoyagi 12y ago
Similarly, I believe you shouldn't ask strangers how are they or even use it as a greeting.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- jamestnz 12y ago
  It helps to understand that asking how someone is at the start of a conversation should generally be interpreted as a social convention rather than a literal question. The socially correct response is either something like "fine", or to repeat the question. Note that if you're going to answer it as a question, the correct answer is always "fine" regardless of whether one really is fine; if you said something like "terrible" you'd be obliging a stranger to pry into your personal business. The fabric of society is very complex, as someone once said. These are all valid in various dialects/registers of native English: Greeting: How are you? Response: Fine, thank you - Greeting: How are you? Response: How are you? - Greeting: How do you do Response: How do you do - Greeting: Sup Response: Sup

thefox 12y ago

It would be better if you set the body for each email with JavaScript and the new lines with "%0A" instead of the indented HTML code. Or don't use indented HTML code for the body blocks. The indented HTML code has also effect of the style of the email: the first line is normal, the second line and all following lines are indented with 25 spaces. This looks strange. However, I like the idea of this website.

huhtenberg 12y ago

Ironically enough clicking on "apologize from problem / bug" crashed Firefox.

daledavies 12y ago

The email body seems to be prefixed with the following, which is showing in my webmail editor (Roundcube). Is it a problem with my configuration or this site? <body><p>

detaro 12y ago
The text the site tries to put in the mail is pure text, not HTML, so I'd think it is Roundcube that is messing it up.

Aoyagi 12y ago

Wow, so much potential. There's some weird formatting going on though. I might be using slightly old and lightweight e-mail client (M2 in Opera12), but I still don't think it should look like this http://puu.sh/fTYSp/c4f0a3bb84.png http://puu.sh/fTYSp/c4f0a3bb84.png

zufallsheld 12y ago
Same thing happening with 31.4.0 on Arch Linux.
feld 12y ago
same with Mail.app on OSX 10.10
mixmastamyk 12y ago
It's because of the templating, each secondary line has a lot of space in front. Could be fixed if the template/source were left aligned.

striking 12y ago

I thoroughly enjoy the fact that there's a breakup email. Hopefully we'll get more canned emails in the future.

username223 12y ago

Does their "unsubscribe aggressively" link work for their own site? I never want to see anything generated by this.

tobyhinloopen 12y ago

Thanks, I really needed the breakup letter!

bcx 12y ago

This is pretty awesome, thanks dave!

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

maxxxcohen 12y ago

This is so misleading, clearly they are not prewritten.