

Ask HN: What would make you excited about email?  - JoelMarsh

I am part of a team that is already building a new kind of email app, which we're calling an Email Browser. We will launch a "public proof of concept" after Christmas.<p>We want to know what you value (or don't) about email.<p>Please comment below, or do our quick survey: http://bit.ly/T088MN<p>I am happy to take questions or feedback via: joel AT joel marsh DOT com.<p>Thanks!
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georgeorwell
I would like to know which messages expect a reply and by when.

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aaronpk
Seconded! I'd like to see it as a "due date" for an email.

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whichdan
Just filled out the survey. Small gripe: under "benefits" it was unclear if I
should consider whether each feature is _currently_ valuable, or _would_ be
valuable if I had it.

Edit: I'd also like to second DanBC's comment about super easy encryption.
Having a diagram to indicate which parts of the transmission are secure would
be great, too. (For instance, visually display that the email is mainly secure
during transit, but is still plainly viewable by the recipient's email
server.)

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JoelMarsh
Thanks for the feedback! Surveys have their limitations, of course, and after
years of experience I have found that (depending on the goals) it is sometimes
better to allow the respondent to "interpret" a little for themselves rather
than restricting them too much. Thanks again (and I have noted your encryption
comments too).

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DanBC
* Very simple, very easy, almost idiot proof, encryption and cryptographic signing. This does not have to be free.

Or

* Very simple, very easy, almost idiot proof anonymous email.

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JoelMarsh
Thanks! Can you elaborate a little more on the signing suggestion?

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DanBC
PGP or GPG offer secure cryptographic signing of email.

Taking a quick look at the GPG page we find some mentions of this:

(<http://www.gnupg.org/faq/GnuPG-FAQ.html#sec-8>) ('Advanced topics'!)

([http://www.dewinter.com/gnupg_howto/english/GPGMiniHowto-1.h...](http://www.dewinter.com/gnupg_howto/english/GPGMiniHowto-1.html#ss1.2))
(mini how to in English, they have other languages available).

([http://www.dewinter.com/gnupg_howto/english/GPGMiniHowto-5.h...](http://www.dewinter.com/gnupg_howto/english/GPGMiniHowto-5.html))
Signing and checking signatures.

Just from these short snippets you can see that there is a lot of
documentation for GPG; and that installing and using GPG[1] will be beyond
most users.

[1] Importantly it is crypto, and thus it's trivially easy for users to get
this stuff wrong. Small mistakes do not necessarily mean anything visible to
the user. The output could look real and useful, but actually be worthless.

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jph
Mail Pilot is pretty exciting in the email space: <http://www.mailpilot.co/>

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JoelMarsh
I agree. We have been watching them closely. We have an entirely different
approach than them though. If you're interested, there is a little sign-up
form for updates at www.getremark.com. We'll be releasing more info in a few
weeks.

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switz
I'd love for it to organize my mail automatically depending on who sends it.
For example, if it's personal, work related, _unsubscribe_ -able, or none of
the above.

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JoelMarsh
Thanks! If that's what floats your boat then I definitely suggest you sign up
at getremark.com. ;)

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debacle
I think I'm getting everything I need out of email right now, but I'm also a
very disciplined email user (an empty inbox is a healthy inbox).

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JoelMarsh
Easier link: <http://bit.ly/T088MN>

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sixQuarks
If it could do my laundry

