

Proposed email features: snooze, re-ping, auto-expire - dreeves
http://messymatters.com/email

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fragmede
I don't know why it is, but the straw poll looked like an ad, and I skipped
over even reading it.

I'd change the first action (delete) have archive as the action name, and
remove delete altogether.

I'd change the Inbox Zero link to _Inbox Zero_ [Video] (or otherwise do
something to distinguish that they're two different links.)

The article itself is an kind of weird mix between rather specific details
("For any message, type sN..."), and the broader concepts. As it is, your
point comes across fine, without needing to define N in sN allows for
fractional days.

\--

Auto-expire's an interesting idea.

First off, it doesn't actually 'process' an email - after setting an auto
expire, I'm still going to see it in my inbox, just now, I can willfully
ignore it. It would be interesting to hook it up to a calendar and allow
things to auto-expire after events or activities (w/ confirmation in case the
activity did not occur as scheduled).

Allowing the user to set auto-expire 999 for 'really important stuff' sounds
like in that case, the user should file it away as 'important' (or star it).

~~~
dreeves
Thanks fragmede!

Specific responses:

* Man, it never occurred to me that the straw poll looks like an ad but you're totally right. Not sure how to fix that.

* I agree about Delete vs Archive but that's not actually my list.

* Good point about the split Inbox Zero link, though it's really just a compromise: I think Jeremy Zawodny's succinct post is better but Merlin Mann's site is more official (and Inbox Zero is Merlin Mann's idea so I can't not link to him).

* Point taken about the weird mix of generality and specifics. I did want to give a full spec for the UI and tried to isolate that in the Nitty Gritty section (and the appendix).

* I guess the "auto-expire 999" thing was like if you wanted to get yourself in the habit of picking an auto-expiration window for every single email. You're right though. I'll either make that point better or drop it. [done; better?]

~~~
fragmede
* Before the poll, maybe you could add a new paragraph that calls the user to action - "Take my poll and find out how other readers do.

* You're right, it's not your list, but it's a change you can make. Merlin Mann first raised the notion 4 years ago; Gmail's 'don't delete, archive!' has become ingrained since he published the original article. The added footnote is good though.

* How about _Inbox Zero_ [footnote-linking-to-the-'offical'-site-and-a-mention-that-its-merlin-manns-idea]?

* I was idly thinking about a UI over breakfast (as well as integrating an 'check-email-X-times-a-day'). When you go to check your email, instead of an inbox that shows old and new mail, there's just a button for 'process new mail'. Click that, and it'd show you one-by-one, new email and at the bottom, show 4 buttons with the choices, and force you to select one before moving to the next new email. (This actually looks feasible as web app for Gmail...)

* I think I'd just drop '999', but mention that it could be a good habit to always pick an auto-expiration date. (3 months of auto-expire 999, and we're almost right back where we started.) (I'd definitely like auto-expire as a feature, but thats because I _also_ use my email inbox as a calendary reminder service as well.)

(Excuse #4 reads as a degenerate case of Excuse #1, with more procrastination
and is the only excuse that applies to a 'slog' of messages) (email me if you
want to keep iterating)

~~~
dreeves
Making these changes and emailing you. Thanks so much for the help! That's a
cool UI idea to force an action on every email.

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RiderOfGiraffes
I'm a dinosaur, I know, but I use kmail on SuSE linux. I have 9 specific email
folders in mbox format, and when I read an email I either reply or not. Then I
file the email, either away, in the trash, or in a "delay for n days" folder,
where "n" is from 1 to 7.

Every time kmail gets started it rotates those folders, so the delayed emails
get closer and closer, and then come back into the inbox.

In this way I achieve everything you mention, unless I've missed something.
The things you suggest are really, really useful, but I achieve them using
technology I already have.

There are extras I won't go into here. Maybe I should blog about them.

If I had a blog.

~~~
dreeves
Awesome, yes, I think these are quite easy to hack into existing mail clients.
As I mention in the article, I hacked up Snooze in Pine.

I think your "delay for n days" feature is indeed what I (and
<http://HitMeLater.com>, it turns out) call Email Snooze. I don't think you've
got the other two proposed features though, based on what you've described so
far. Maybe those wouldn't be so useful for you -- sounds like you have a great
system.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
The re-ping feature you mention is one of the "extras I mention - I've
implemented it in a separate script. Dropping an email into an appropriate
folder means it's watched by a script, and if a reply to it comes in, it gets
deleted. If it's not deleted after 7 days it re-appears in my inbox.

Your other feature is "archive after X days." I'm trying to work out if I'd
want it, but I don't think I do. But the fact that I've hacked the other two
features into my existing workflow certainly shows that they are potentially
interesting/useful. Hope that's interesting.

~~~
dreeves
That's super cool that you've hacked up two of these features already. Want to
share the scripts? For re-ping though I think I'd rather it to be one of the
compose headers so it would be part of composing the mail rather than having
to take another action, after sending, to schedule the re-ping.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
The scripts are ugly, bug-ridden and fragile. I wouldn't let anyone see them,
and I don't really have the time to tidy them up.

Having said that, I will go and have a look at them again later this week.
Feel free to email me again to remind me and ask me how it's going. No
guarantees, though ...

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zyklon
Are your proposed features for a specific mail client? I don't see one
mentioned.

\--

I think these could all be implemented quite easily with folders and some
smart filters.

For example, snooze, just create a snooze folder and set a filter on it to
move any messages in there older than <x> hours back to your inbox. Similar
procedure for others.

~~~
dreeves
No specific client, though I mention gmail in the appendix.

That's a good idea for implementing snooze! The only thing missing is that you
can't easily choose the amount of time to snooze.

I don't know how you could approximate the other two (re-ping and auto-expire)
with just folders and filters. Eager to hear more ideas...

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eggspurt
How about social features: I read it and will act on it, thanks for the great
message, ...?

~~~
dreeves
Can you elaborate? I'm confused. Email is already pure social...

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dreeves
I'd love to get any thoughts from you all before publishing this.

