Email Etiquette

I sent some emails out last week and got no reply. Nothing.

There is a difficult etiquette issue here. Do I assume that the message has not got through? Do I assume that the person who received it does not think the message worthy of reply or would rather not talk to me?

This is tricky. If I send a further message saying "Did you get my email?" I force them into responding when they'd probably rather not. If I do nothing, and the mail didn't get through, then they might think me rude for not getting in touch, or I miss out on a conversation which may benefit both of us.

In the end I solved the problem by checking my junk email folder. Which of course is where the responses had ended up. I'm no further forward on the etiquette issue, but I'm going to check through my junk email more frequently....

Comments

[Jo]

Same as in real life. I nearly missed a psychiatrist appointment and a water bill because they got lost under our junk mail. We should really throw it away on a more frequent basis, but I gave up doing it when I saw no one else ever bothered. AH... shared student housing blis..

[Simon]

I think the key is in what you send in the first place. I knew someone who would not reply to a text message unless there was a question mark in it. I also knew someone who has a phone that would check messages for question marks and could automatically create a reply message of either "Answer is YES", or "Answer is NO".

[IgnorantPom]

That is reprehensible. Who would do such a thing?