Email Needs an “Opt Out of this Thread” Option
Posted on December 21, 2007
Have you ever been one of multiple recipients on an email and gotten caught in a storm of “Reply to All” activity? I have – it’s annoying and I want a way out.
What we need is an “Opt out of this thread” option. I think implementation would only be feasible within proprietary email systems that don’t rely on Internet standards to route messages between users. (The capability to support this doesn’t exist in the Internet email protocols [e.g. smtp, pop3, and imap].) For example, I could see this implemented within the boundaries of corporate email systems (e.g. Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes) or public systems such as Hotmail or Gmail but not between separate email environments or systems.
In a sea of gimmicks to reduce email overload I think this option could have a positive effect.
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You mean you don’t think it is a good idea for people wanting to opt out to just send an email to everyone saying “I don’t want to receive emails anymore” or “why am I getting this?”
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Great idea Matt!!!!
You are da MAN!
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I don’t know, Davey…if you don’t notify those on the list that you are opting out (as implicitly recommended in the first post) then you are looking for a world of problems, especially in the corporate sphere.
So some employee, perhaps one with an IT blog on the side, decides his time is too valuable to keep getting everyone’s reply-to-alls on a given subject that has begun to bore him. No one knows he’s opted out, just like when said employee mentally checks out of a meeting and starts playing with his blackberry.
Great, until the boss, who for some reason unfathomable to the employee hasn’t opted out yet, sends a response via ‘reply to all’ that might have pierced the self-importance even this particular employee…oops!
Oh well, with all the free time said employee will have on his hands thereafter, he can add yet another option…a “reply to original” that overrides the opt-out for those who have chosen it. There’s yet another great idea; you really ARE the man! Now what to do about people that abuse the override….
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