

An Email Lesson for Startups: Resent vs. Re-sent - ScottWhigham
http://www.techurbia.com/2008/12/an-email-lesson-learned-resent-vs-re-sent.html

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there
> Question: lol - I just looked at the email I sent you and realized that I
> meant to write "re-sent" and yet I wrote "resent" lol.

> I read this email from you and I was like, "Wow - why is he talking about
> resentment?"

what are you, 14?

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vlad
The way he wrote it, he indeed said he resented it.

I recommend everyone starts such sentences with, _I've_ instead of _I_. Any
time you start a written sentence with _I've_ , it's clear you're describing
something you just did, versus something you believe.

And finally, he also wrote the word "just" in the wrong spot. The best line
would have been "I've re-sent the e-mail," instead of "I just resent it either
way :)."

~~~
Herring
given the sentence structure, the smiley _& the extra email in my mailbox_, i
think i would have picked up on it.

What I don't get is Ted being pissed. I can't really parse his message, but I
just don't read anger.

~~~
vlad
You're arguing that the sentence contains enough information for the author's
intended interpretation to be understood (which is true); in practice,
however, customers expect developers who answer questions at small companies
to be more knowledgeable than they are, and often take comments, advice, or
instructions almost literally. Along similar lines, most customers of most
software companies are not developers, and therefore are not used to reading
text carefully, like we are.

Regarding the author thinking his customer was pissed, this helps prove my
point that the author needs to work on his written communication skills. He
not only fails to realize that he really did phrase his words incorrectly
(instead of the customer misunderstanding the sentence), but also incorrectly
misread the customer's reply as being "pissed."

------
splurk
old: adding "in bed" to a fortune cookie fortune

new: adding "for startups" to titles submitted to HN

------
andymitchell
I hoped this was a clever title for the fine line between resending an email
that was ignored and getting resented for spamming. But... no :)

