"Bob Geldof has revealed his contempt for e-mails"

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http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40113000/jpg/_40113799_geldof203.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

"Bob Geldof has revealed his contempt for writing shitty music, blaming it for tying up people's time and hurting my ears."

― Le Marquis de Salade (noodle vague), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

50-something man uncomfortable with modern technology!

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

... innovation firm ?What if!

― beanz (beanz), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

the man needs a good firm pistol-whipping.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

"E-mail has revealed its contempt for Bob Geldof: He's a sanctimonious cunt and his music's shite - pass this on to 10 of your friends"

― Le Marquis de Salade (noodle vague), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

"Mr Geldof told a conference in London that naming his kid Peaches "gave a feeling of temporary insanity, which somehow made people ridicule"."

― Nathalie is in Da Base II Dark (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

Amazing. I just went through my entire list of "People I Would Like to Punch in the Windpipe," and somehow Bob got left off. I've added him.

― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

If Bob Geldof loses a deal because he's rubbish at e-mails, someone else GETS the deal.

Just because you're crap at e-mails, bob, doesn't mean everyone else is.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

ha, we have found luddite of the year - Bob Geldof

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/16/sparrow.domino.ap/index.html

― Jdubz (ex machina), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

I also have contempt for voicemail, postal mail, and anything other than discussion that takes place using parliamentary procedure.

― mike h. (mike h.), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

I would have killed that bird too. Fuck that.

― Spink, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Can I just say that he's genuinely beginning to resemble on of those slobbering puppets from that old Genesis video?

― andy --, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

'He explained that the "doing part" of a job is proportionate to the amount of e-mails you do not answer.'

That is wisdom.

― moiley, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

Yeah on one level I don't think he's so far off -- I'm kinda interested in the part where he's claiming email sets your agenda for you. I don't think this is a big issue for younger people and those further down the corporate ladder, but once you're in a position where part of your job really should be creative action, well ... dealing with lots of email will put you in a reactive, responsive mode, instead of one where you actively lead in a particular direction. Like Brown's emails during Katrina, where he seems to be getting these long crisis reports and then constantly shooting these banal things back to everyone: "Someone get on this," or "Anything I should change?" or "Okay thanks for the update." All of which seems to indicate a mindset that's far from what we'd want -- a guy who's actively contacting people, trying to make specific things happen, monitoring the situation on his own, etc., not just responding to what pops up in his inbox like a whack-a-mole.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 21:54 (twenty years ago)

"Our top story tonight: Bob Geldof opined today that time spent in front of the computer might not be as productive as time spent in 'serious consideration of what you want to do.' On the internet message board ilxor.com, which averages many thousands of posts each weekday from its users, Geldof's comments were generally greeted dismissively. And now here's Laura with the weather."

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

Hooray!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

Can you imagine the awesome might of the beast that would result from a freak amalgamation of Bob Geldof and Bob Dole?

― Dan (BEHOLD GELDOLEF THE WRETCHED) Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

Lord of the EURGH

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:04 (twenty years ago)

so: people who are a bit shit at prioritising their time/adopting the right mindset/dealing with their workload are going to be a bit freaked by a full inbox?

yup, nice one, bob. what were you afraid of in 1975: paper memos?

what a fucking penis he is.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

Well, at least he's useful.

― Dan (Just Let That One... SINK IN...) Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

Dive in, PLUNGE in even.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

It's not a matter of "a bit freaked" -- he's serving here as some sort of effective-business consultant, and in that capacity I don't think it's poor advice to remind people not to start a routine where they're primarily communicating and reacting via email. It's great for getting things done, but eventually there's a level of management where you don't want to wind up tending to your inbox all the time. I've even felt this way about low-level bosses before, where I feel like they'd be much better off laying off the constant email spreading and actually moving around talking to people and seeing what's up.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:16 (twenty years ago)

Amazingly Geldof has not noticed that everything, when allowed to have a higher priority than the task at hand, will distract one from what one is trying to do. Not just email.

― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

what martin said ;)

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 23:27 (twenty years ago)

"Don't do e-mail."

I smell a new charity single.

― do knut (donut), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:11 (twenty years ago)

A charity to.. um... benefit people who suffered from... e-mail.

― do knut (donut), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:12 (twenty years ago)

THINK ABOUT THE INBOXES!

― do knut (donut), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:13 (twenty years ago)

UR, DON'T THINK ABOUT THE INBOXES! THINK ABOUT THE REAL WORLD!

― do knut (donut), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:13 (twenty years ago)

DON'T DOOOOOO EEEEEEEE-MAAAAAAAIL!

― do knut (donut), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:17 (twenty years ago)

― do knut (donut), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:17 (twenty years ago)

actually nabisco is correct - how many times does one start a job and is warned of certain colleagues / business associates who react quite touchily to e-mail? you might not have meant to 'offend' but some will see offense in a communication no matter how you strive to be clear. not everyone has a good ear for language and you have to remember that, esp. when conducting business. nothing wrong with using e-mail - it is a better and more efficient form of communication in many circumstances, but many colleagues and contacts of mine make a point of also using the phone or visiting me once in a while as a way of establishing 'good faith' and strengthening business relationships.

― ATM, Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

From my own experience, phone/voice-mail technology, ordinary snail-mail, paper memos, etc. also encourage the whack-a-mole-style cursoriness Nabisco references above. I always pick up my phone, regardless of how busy I am, because retrieving messages and calling someone back (and playing phone-tag) is just so comparatively onerous and unproductive compared to speaking to someone and giving quick, monosyllabic answers.

On the other hand, I'm absolutely positive that most people who recieve my work e-mails must think I'm anal-retentative freak because I always go for full elaboration in e-mails, even though it takes longer. I spell everything out, I write sentences with subjects and main verbs, and I spell-out things that a breezier e-mail must just leave *assumed*, not only because it's good form, but because I always know whatever I write might be forwarded to someone not blessed with all the context I could conceivably leave out.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 17 November 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

True story: there's a full-time employee of my firm who's been with us since the early nineties, and all that time, he's never learned to use the voice-mail system. Well, no, I think he did once a long time ago but then the system changed and he never bothered to adapt. He rarely deals with our clients and has a slightly eccentric personality so he can sorta get away with it, but it infuriates me to no end that I have to stress to everyone who works with him that if he doesn't pick up, he has to be paged. And if he doesn't answer that, forget it. (He also never signs out when he leaves the office.)

I suppose there'd be something admirable about his defiance, his unwillingness to get caught up in the stress-making technologies of the day, were it not for the fact that his actions just transfer the stress onto other people, running around like all crazy-like when there's a deadline and nobody else can do what he does and he can't be contacted.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 17 November 2005 01:07 (twenty years ago)

michael daddino, i wish i worked with you. you are a colleague after my own heart.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 17 November 2005 11:16 (twenty years ago)

Bob Geldof is a fucking prick.

― Rumpie, Thursday, 17 November 2005 11:28 (twenty years ago)

what a fucking penis he is.

From the looks of the pic he ain't circumsized.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 17 November 2005 11:47 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Bob Geldof's company Ten Alps is to launch a new channel devoted to world peace.

good luck with that.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Friday, 2 February 2007 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

why u haet peace

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 2 February 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

I want to know how to detect from a picture whether or not a man is circumsized.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 2 February 2007 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

(I don't really)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 2 February 2007 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

look at the end of his cock, i guess.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Friday, 2 February 2007 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but you CAN'T SEE HIS COCK (nor would I want to)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 2 February 2007 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

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