Out of office

I sent information to two professional association mailing lists today. This is a small fraction of what I received in return:

 

Ya know what?

I don't care.

I propose we outlaw the automatic response feature of email systems that simply excuse people for not checking their damn e-mail.

 I feel better now. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.

Comments

[Sherry Crofut]

I have never understood those automatic responses. Do people not check their email when they are away from work? I know I am a bit over-the-top and pop it to my Blackberry, but I still checked it before I got this nifty device! There is email access just about everywhere you go these days. I am with you on this one!

[Cathy Nelson]

@Doug and @Sherry--me too! I think its sick that they took time to set up the "Out of office" auto response--why not just temporarily unsubcribe, and then resubscribe when they return. If one knows the commands to get to set up an out of office note, then one knows also how to subscribe/unsubscribe...Yep. It's one of my pet peeves too. Just because school is out or we are on vacation doesn't mean life ends for everyone else we network with. Our networks provide a means for us to temporarily drop out without annoying the whole wide world. Out of Office notes are stupid and annoying, and they will STILL have a very full in box when they login again.

[Cathy Nelson]

Oh and thank goodness my name is not in that list LOL

[Tim]

Do I also have permission to not set an out of office phone message? :-)

I agree that these automatic replies are pretty much useless but I never see them anyway. I have a rule in my mail client that sends them directly to the trash.

[greg carroll]

Doug,
two things...
oh WHY ON EARTH would you tell every spam server in the world it has found a real email address? Turn the out of office replies OFF!! (I do like Tims solution though :-))
One of the good things about being on holiday is NOT checking my email. But I do get back to them and deal with the things that need sorting. Do people really need to know if I am in my office or not - I assume people are NOT over the holidays when I send mail, and that there will be a delay in getting replies compared to term time.

[Doug Johnson]

@Hi Sherry,

Glad to hear this bothers someone else as well. If something is really urgent, I call them rather than e-mail them anyway!

Doug

@Hi Cathy,

To a degree, I am thinking the "Out of office" message is a hold-over from the days people got fewer than a dozen emails a day (or week). It may have made more sense then. Now it is a PIA.

All the best,

Doug

@Hi Tim,

Personally I LIKE out of office voice messages, but only when they tell me when the person will be back.

Good idea about the rule. I'm setting one up myself.

Doug

@ Hi Greg,

I expect that people who don't check e-mail over holidays aren't knowledgeable enough to turn on the Out of Office flag anyway. I am still astounded by how many teachers have thousands of e-mails piled up when they get back from summer holiday. But I'll bet you don't go 3 months!

All the best,

Doug

[Lazygal]

Doug, Doug... at MPOW we're expected to have Out Of Office messages on both e- and voice mail (including when you're returning). I find it really helpful to know that someone will not be checking because if it's really urgent, I'll have to find another way to deal with whatever the problem is now, rather than waiting and wondering if they're just not paying attention.

I also put an Away message on my personal e-mail when I was up on Montreal the past few days: people expect me to respond quickly, and since I didn't check e-mail for a week(!!!), I didn't want them to worry.

Sorry, but I'm "pro" the messages.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Lazy,

I guess it takes all kinds.

Thanks for the counterpoint.

Doug