I don't really understand why people use the iPhone mail app if they also use Gmail ... not in a "disgusting savages" way, just in an idgi way ... like when we had that thread where it turned out that a significant number of people flush toilets with their feet.
― sarahell, Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:38 (two years ago) link
― gyac, Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:44 (two years ago) link
I am also very appreciative of the gmail tabs for "promotions" "updates" and "forums" ... I am so not counting these in my "virtuous" 11-100 unread on average (though currently I'm at about 150)
― sarahell, Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:45 (two years ago) link
I use gmail app for my gmail and iPhone Mail for my other accountโ gyac, Thursday, May 19, 2022 1:44 PM (one minute ago)
this makes sense! thx
― sarahell, Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:46 (two years ago) link
0 unread, maybe about 20 in the inbox
― mookieproof, Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:47 (two years ago) link
i feel like all of you "0" unread ilxors are from a different planet than me ... a more organized, chill, "knows how to live" planet
― sarahell, Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:48 (two years ago) link
Iโm definitely not more organised but I do hate seeing the notifications numbers
― gyac, Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:50 (two years ago) link
i treat my personal gmail like an old usenet group - there's a constant flood of stuff from mailing lists etc. and i just click on stuff that catches my eye or seems important. thankfully google is generally pretty good about putting "emails i should be aware of" in my primary inbox though it's obviously very biased when it comes to what advertising ends up there vs. "spam".
work email is 0 always.
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Thursday, 19 May 2022 20:53 (two years ago) link
Oh I should add that I still use the 'classic' gmail view.
Work email is definitely NOT 0, I'm the opposite, lol. But that doesn't bother me, I just ignore the stuff that isn't relevant.
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:02 (two years ago) link
Sometimes I'll select everything and pick "archive all". I've come back around to actually reading my email most of the time. Mostly it's shit about my medical appointments. There's this one group I'm a member of that's so old-school that they actually run a LISTSERV still, I love it so much.
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:03 (two years ago) link
Oh my email game is a complete mess, I read everything as it comes in and say "shit I can't deal with this right now, at some point I'll skim through the inbox and respond to this" and sometimes I do and sometimes I don't -- as a result, nothing's unread but also the whole thing is a morass of tasks undealt-with!
I suppose you could, generously, describe my willingness to leave the tasks undone as "chill"...
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:09 (two years ago) link
yeah i made the "0 unread" vs "0 unread *and* 0 in inbox" with trad email rather than gmail in mind.
― ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ (caek), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:12 (two years ago) link
27,720 unread in personal account, 418 in podcast account, 3 in work account, 17 tabs open in firefox (some 2 months old), ADHD still officially undiagnosed
― Portrait Of A Dissolvi Ng Drea M (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:12 (two years ago) link
my pocket account has crept back up over 400 unread articles tho
i wish i could turn off where it says 'x-minute read' because that puts me off even starting the long ones
― mookieproof, Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:14 (two years ago) link
0 for work, i only get like 10-20 emails per day and at least skim all of them as they come inmy personal acct usually has a bunch of autogenerated stuff like receipts unread but only a few real things so voted 1-10
― ciderpress, Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:28 (two years ago) link
I really don't understand why/how people leave emails unread. Read 'em or delete 'em as soon as they show up.
― Portrait Of A Dissolvi Ng Drea M (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:29 (two years ago) link
it turns out we just have to keep ourselves fed, clothed and sheltered ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:38 (two years ago) link
am kind of in awe at the ability to deal with every email as it arrives, day in day out.
You can read it without dealing with it! I do it with dozens of emails every day!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:48 (two years ago) link
Are you guys changing the status of an email back to unread if you haven't dealt with whatever it entails???
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:49 (two years ago) link
if I read an email and don't deal with it immediately then that email is never, ever getting dealt with
― Portrait Of A Dissolvi Ng Drea M (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:51 (two years ago) link
I hate shit accumulating. Read and done.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:54 (two years ago) link
well that's why you mark it unread! voodoo chili's way is exactly my way. it's a hack but it basically works. the only achilles heel of this system is when you're blowing through emails and forget to mark something unread. i do occasionally toy with the idea of using different color flags for different subjects, like a glimpse into a better way, a more deliberate and organized way, but i never end up doing it.
xpost
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:56 (two years ago) link
I also use the classic gmail view.19k unread in personal account.25k unread in work account108 unread in small press account Blows my mind that people care about the numbers.
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:56 (two years ago) link
As in, getting to zero.Who cares?
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:57 (two years ago) link
i don't know because it's not my way but presumably they care because in their system it's proof they've dealt with everything, which you have to admit is a pretty gratifying feeling
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:59 (two years ago) link
Oops, I guess I lied - I've been funneling pictures of friends' babies from Tiny Beans into a separate folder, and there are now 341 baby updates that I have not looked at.
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 19 May 2022 21:59 (two years ago) link
I hate shit accumulating but shit still constantly accumulates and if I can ever push my way up out of the shit to take a breath there's a whole new load of shit that I somehow forgot about ready to accumulate all over me again.
― Portrait Of A Dissolvi Ng Drea M (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 May 2022 22:02 (two years ago) link
OK, so if "read" means "dealt with," and the emails in my inbox that I consider "read" are those which in a normal person's system would be marked as unread, then I guess I have thousands and thousands of unread emails.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 19 May 2022 22:04 (two years ago) link
i get basically no spam. i unsubscribe from everything and all the receipts etc. go directly to saved email. i read what's left (not much!) for the same reason i would open hand addressed letters i get in in the mail. it's usually something cool.
― ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ (caek), Thursday, 19 May 2022 22:25 (two years ago) link
i would like a better system for sending receipts to their own folder. i have a few rules set up but they catch maybe 30%. i am assiduous about unsubscribing to shit though.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 May 2022 22:30 (two years ago) link
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210425 makes it easier (doesn't help with old emails, is not free)
― ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ (caek), Thursday, 19 May 2022 22:38 (two years ago) link
Too goddamn many (in my personal account and my work account alike)
Voted for 10K+ plus but 10K is only a fraction
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 19 May 2022 22:47 (two years ago) link
No, but if I think I'm gonna need to come back to something I use Google's little gold stars.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 19 May 2022 22:53 (two years ago) link
Around 150 unread in personal email and 0 in work email. In my previous job, I got thousands of emails each week and had around 7k unread when I quit.
― Jaq, Thursday, 19 May 2022 23:03 (two years ago) link
Yโall have made me self conscious, this thread and sharing my screen with a new supervisor today and his aghast face at my inbox numbers.
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Thursday, 19 May 2022 23:06 (two years ago) link
This is giving me an idea for a new poll. Stay tuned.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 19 May 2022 23:20 (two years ago) link
Personal is a total shambles (3500+ unread in gmail. Work is probably under 20 and those were read then marked unread to remember something and never marked read again.
― PBKR, Thursday, 19 May 2022 23:25 (two years ago) link
see this is why i think moving stuff you've dealt with out of the inbox is good.
if you leave everything in the inbox and manually mark as unread the emails that you still need to deal with:
read = i have dealt with itunread = i have not dealt with it. i might have read it. but maybe not.in the inbox = means nothing
if you move stuff out of the inbox once you've dealt with it then
read = i have read itunread = i have not read itin the inbox = i have not dealt with it
surely this is better? it's the same amount of work.
― ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ (caek), Thursday, 19 May 2022 23:37 (two years ago) link
Oh, yeah, I wouldn't defend my method. Have we talked about how I use my calendar as a diary/to do list?
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 00:40 (two years ago) link
scraping the bottom of the minutiae barrel, i love it
This ranks right up with my legendary 'how old is your alarm clock?' thread
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 20 May 2022 00:43 (two years ago) link
work email, which is the only one that matters, is always zero unread and usually <10 in inbox. idk i've always been that way.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 20 May 2022 00:50 (two years ago) link
I am in awe. So you just delete or file them immediately?
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 01:02 (two years ago) link
i'm the same... yep, delete or file immediately.
― visiting, Friday, 20 May 2022 01:15 (two years ago) link
i aggressively delete anything that's irrelevant. for other stuff i try to deal with it as quickly as possible. i have a pretty good filing system and also some "action folders" for stuff i need to get back to in the near future.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 20 May 2022 01:19 (two years ago) link
I feel like my entire work life is stuff I need to get back to in the near future. I often rely on my emails to respond/follow up when I haven't received a response on items, which is a lot. I guess I could do that even after I file an email in a folder, then delete that folder when I am done with that project. Hmmm.
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 01:34 (two years ago) link
โ Tracer Hand, Thursday, May 19, 2022 2:56 PM (three hours ago)
oh, fuck changing things to "unread" (affectionately in the washing a hat way), I use folders for things that are dealt with. ... granted my folder system is only so sophisticated in that all work-related emails go in the folder "0-Work" ... but at least it means that when I scroll through the inbox, I am only seeing emails I still need to attend to. ... It means things are less likely to get buried on page 2 - many.
I do try to do this "keep your shit together" tip I learned from a client, which is "if you can deal with what an email is asking you for in 2 minutes or less, do it right away" ... the problem is the emails that require more effort to respond to, and those end up sitting in the inbox for longer.
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 01:38 (two years ago) link
lol in my three main Gmail accounts โ one personal, two professional โ I have 104,558, 37,456, and 31,435.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 20 May 2022 01:40 (two years ago) link
I could/should just delete all the unread ones, but I probably won't until Google tells me I'm out of space.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 20 May 2022 01:41 (two years ago) link
also, I am sure that of my approx. 150 unread emails -- about 50 of them are emails from months ago where the person sent me another email about the same thing and I dealt with the thing, and put the email where I actually dealt with the thing in the folder, so really I am more organized and functional than it looks like?
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 01:42 (two years ago) link
otm
― mookieproof, Friday, 20 May 2022 01:43 (two years ago) link
once it gets to like 100 unread I delete (without reading) most of them, read any that were important. I hate unread emails and sometimes I miss important shit.
at work I'm always at 0 unread because I don't get enough in a day to where I can't catch up. when I was a project manager it was typically 100 unread
― mookie wilson shaggin balls (Neanderthal), Friday, 20 May 2022 13:28 (two years ago) link
lol extremely good question
โsent box zeroโ would be deeply impressive and of course disturbing
โ Tracer Hand, Friday, May 20, 2022 9:23 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
Yeah, I use my sent mail more than my inbox on some level. My โsystemโ so to speak:
1. Send email.2. Set calendar reminder to follow up on response needed (markups Iโve sent, signatures I need, responses not received, etc.).3. When calendar pops up, find original sent email, respond to all and follow up.4. Lather, rinse, repeat until task is completed.
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 13:47 (two years ago) link
i like this
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 20 May 2022 13:49 (two years ago) link
that's a pretty good system, PBKR. but have you tried this?
1. stare at the inbox2. inbox counter goes up3. set timer.3. read email, or at least click on it to make the counter go back to 04. stop timer.5. log timer results in "precisionliving.xls", learn lessons, repeat
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Friday, 20 May 2022 15:19 (two years ago) link
1. stare at inbox2. Goto line 1.
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 15:26 (two years ago) link
Re: moving into folders, an effective search beats any kind of taxonomy.
โ buffalo tomozzarella (ledge), Friday, May 20, 2022 3:36 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
this is true and it's why i leave everything in inbox in gmail. but when i started working in the mid-00s and had to use outlook, "effective search" was not a strong suit.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 20 May 2022 15:33 (two years ago) link
I have about 150 unread, almost all from the same small group of frequent spammers. A few companies refuse to remove me from their mailing lists.
Also, why don't businesses understand how email works by now? I bought a set of tires from one place and now I get weekly emails about their big sale that week on tires. Hey guys, I just bought four, I'm not going to need another set for another 5 years, stop sending me weekly emails.
― Lee626, Friday, 20 May 2022 15:47 (two years ago) link
โ buffalo tomozzarella (ledge), Friday, May 20, 2022 12:36 AM (eight hours ago)
depends on if you know what you are searching for? ... idk, this is actually a really interesting philosophical question tbh
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 16:26 (two years ago) link
iโm not going to pretend my way is any good but your way requires eventually moving every email that comes into your inbox toโฆ. somewhereโฆ. whereas i donโt do that at all so no itโs not the same amount of workโ Tracer Hand, Friday, May 20, 2022 3:08 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
โ Tracer Hand, Friday, May 20, 2022 3:08 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
eh, i guess i'm comparing the hassle of re-marking "unprocessed" emails as unread (a key press) with the hassle of removing processed emails from the inbox. they're both a keystroke (unless you're the kind of graybeard/sicko who files emails into specific folders).
you're right that you have to do the archive keystroke more if you remove stuff from the inbox than the mark unread keystroke if you do that.
but if you use gmail, you're presumably also using the keyboard to change to the next email. there's a key to do that, but there's a key to do that _and_ archive the current email. so if you're changing to the next email anyway, it's no extra work.
― ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ (caek), Friday, 20 May 2022 17:16 (two years ago) link
can i just say, this is one of my favorite topics and i'm having a lovely time.
in gmail hit ] to remove the current email from the inbox and switch to the next email. [ does the same but switches to the previous email. it's good.
― ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ (caek), Friday, 20 May 2022 17:17 (two years ago) link
unless you're the kind of graybeard/sicko who files emails into specific folders
i have maybe a few dozen gray hairs, and no beard ... I guess I'm a sicko? But, seriously, I think some of this is related to the fact that the language and systems (e.g. the term "folder") are semantically connected to physical organizational systems. I was putting documents in actual manila folders before I had email, and filed emails into specific folders. It's a cognitive task that I associate with organizing things, having all the things in their proper places, and knowing where those are. ... Metaphorically, the non-foldered emails feel like stacks of paper all over the place.
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 17:58 (two years ago) link
I could tell you stories about the guy I worked for in the early-00s who would print out emails and news articles and keep them in folders. He never threw anything away and his filing system was just these very general topics like โinsurance captivesโ so he ended up with nearly two dozen stacks of paper 1-3 feet tall around his giant office. It was like a kid building a fort out of paper no one was ever going to read. And he viewed himself as an environmentalist, but he was just a boomer.
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:10 (two years ago) link
what is an insurance captive?
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:12 (two years ago) link
xp - I don't know if he still does this, but this local legendary punk dude who has a record label wouldn't read email, so he would have his employees print out emails that were sent to him and then fax them to him.
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:14 (two years ago) link
An insurance captive is an insurance company created by some larger companies that only insures the company that created it. I havenโt dealt with them in a long time (and not much at that) but they had a lot of tax advantages and allow the company to keep any underwriting profits instead of having them go out the door to a third party insurer.
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:24 (two years ago) link
Can also be used to self insure large SIRs/deductible and such.
― PBKR, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:25 (two years ago) link
that's super interesting to me, actually.
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:46 (two years ago) link
i wouldn't necessarily call morrissey a punk dude
― ๐ ๐๐ข๐จ (caek), Friday, 20 May 2022 19:17 (two years ago) link
lol, wrong dude
― sarahell, Friday, 20 May 2022 19:18 (two years ago) link
do you all read emails sequentially? (moreso for business than personal).
I don't use a threaded view in Outlook, but if I get an email that's part of a thread, I just read the most recent and then read all of the previous ones there, so I know what the latest is and the history of discussion.
but I do know a lot of people who start at the bottom and work their way up, so they might respond to an early email in a thread that has since been contradicted later. like, maybe a thread says "can you send me a mockup of your latest presentation", and 5 emails in someone says "actually, I'd like to hold off doing that until further internal review", but the person sees the old email first and sends the presentation before they see that later they were asked not to.
idk if i'm the weird one or not, i always assume people read the older messages first even though I don't.
― mookie wilson shaggin balls (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:09 (two years ago) link
If I've been on vacation, then yeah I go reverse chronological sometimes. I'll also read ILX threads from the bottom up. :)
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:12 (two years ago) link
well, yeah.
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:13 (two years ago) link
Although it seems like bottom up has a different meaning in both cases but maybe that's what you intended.
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:14 (two years ago) link
I love reading ILX threads from bottom up, feels like watching a prequel to a horror film
― mookie wilson shaggin balls (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:14 (two years ago) link
RIght. Often there is a Natives Are Restless/Dr. Livingston I Presume moment when one is close enough to the headwaters of the thread and detects the scent of an OLDE ILXXE Troll like C-man in the wind.
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:27 (two years ago) link
^helluva description there
― mookie wilson shaggin balls (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:29 (two years ago) link
And then the drums stop, and it's very, very bad because...
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:31 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKyJou39Kks
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:33 (two years ago) link
^6:15
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:35 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 29 May 2022 00:01 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 30 May 2022 00:01 (two years ago) link
good spread
― mookieproof, Monday, 30 May 2022 01:03 (two years ago) link
the moderately responsible middle is the least represented! good job ILX!
― sarahell, Monday, 30 May 2022 16:45 (two years ago) link
Has nothing to do with responsibility
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 20:36 (two years ago) link
I will die on this hill with my unorganized tens of thousands of unread emails
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 20:37 (two years ago) link
If they were letters, they would be a literal hill to die on, and lo, we would think you were mad. I salute you.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 20:59 (two years ago) link
I save all my important letters fwiw
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 21:57 (two years ago) link
returned to work for the first time since 6/27, and...only had 130 unread emails! mind boggled, that's....really not that many! - in my previous role, that woulda been 1,000 - 2,000 at least.
and yet still, I can't begin working until all of them are read, even if I flag them as important for later. or it'll drive me nuts.
― Doop Snogg (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 6 July 2022 13:28 (two years ago) link