E-mail rants

For a minute, there, I was really confused. I get this email, along with dozens of spam letters among other things advising me how to get viagra cheap (cause everyone knows we all need that!) that just starts out "you seem to be confusing fact with opinion" and blasting my discussion of the trouble I had with my entertainment website having political opinion. You know, with my website, I sometimes get cranky email about the different opinions-- those that have gotten the most are New Orleans on New Years' one, and the Roe v. Wade one, and, surprisingly, the review of A Year In Tuscany. But usually, it's fairly obvious what someone is talking about, and it doesn't throw me to get this hostile email in my mailbox, because they have some skill with correspondance & are clear on their point. First thing in the morning, having my first latte and moving to check my email, I don't need random hostility in my mailbox. Spam I can handle-- the delete button is getting worn off, but I can handle it.

So here's my deal. I teach technical writing to college students, and I always stress that in email, you're writing sometimes to complete strangers, but you feel like it's a conversation that is going on right now. You MUST write coherently, somewhat formally, and have your POINT be obvious. Of course, when you're forwarding stupid jokes to friends, or writing about something that IS in someone's mind right this second, this rule can be broken. You can write informally, etc. But if you're writing to someone who hasn't been thinking of you, you need to write like a Victorian. Be polite. Be wordy. Be clear & concise.

I have gotten sick of answering random hostile strangers because it usually only ends up in my obsessing for weeks over the email, and feeling bad, and worrying that the person will show up at some conference and throw a drink in my face. So now, I am handling irritating ones the same way as SPAM. ::Delete:: Not the ones with an honest query, or merely because they disagree with me (the anti-abortion guy who wrote got a long, long, carefully considered and carefully nice letter, probably a lot more than he wanted!) but anything that sets my hackles up is just going to go into the recycle bin. I don't have the energy anymore.