Huge, unneeded attachments
- What I hate is when people send you >20MB email attachments that you don't even need. I once received one, and asked that they send it to an alternate address so it doesn't bog down my personal mail. Helpfully, they sent this attachment to both, crashing my mail server (not enough allocated memory).
- —Guest Matt
ALL CAPS and not using BCCs for forwards
- Two of my email pet peeves would be: emails in ALL CAPS and mass-forwards that display 30+ email addresses (sometimes even more than once). If you cannot read the regular, mixed case text - perhaps it's high time for some reading glasses? If you insist on forwarding something that has been forwarded to you with all the email addresses showing - be so kind as to cut-and-paste them into the "Bcc:" box and delete the original "To:".
- —jedikitty
Sick jokes and other unwelcome mail
- Non-spammers flooding my inbox with sick jokes and other unwanted material that the sender thinks the recipient **Must** read.
- —Guest CharleyDog
Email and Texting
- It's ignorant when people send an email using the (bad) habits used in texting. LOL, 4, etc..
- —jcstew
Social media
- The current trend of e-mailing me to be someone's friend on Facebook, without the ninny checking Facebook to find that I don't have a Facebook page and am not a member. Misspellings, poor punctuation, and obvious grammatical errors are a real peeve in business correspondence. Outside of that, we residents of the Sahara south of the Mason-Dixon would appreciate being left alone to use country speech, malapropisms, and certain forbidden grammatical forms in our e-mails as a cherished part of our regional humor.
- —Guest littlepitcher
Vertical Blue Lines in 'Forwards!'
- I hate when people forward jokes, etc., without removing the blue lines on the left, which indicate the message was forwarded. Sometimes there are 4-5 of these lines on the page and you actually have to scroll to the right just to read the message! Like others mentioned, I, too, hate lack of punctuation, forwarding 'supposedly true' stories without checking to see if they are indeed true (99% aren't). I also hate when people don't remove previous addresses and/or don't use their 'bcc' field. I am also tired of people who send 'forwards' that I, and they, have seen or sent to me what seems like a THOUSAND times!! "Dear friends...If you've seen and sent a 'forward' before, chances are that I have seen it at least a thousand times, too!"
- —GinaPA
Emoticon abuse
- Flashy gifs are unprofessional and detract from the message.
- —Guest Jeanne
"if you don't laugh at this..."
- Further to the issues with the chain threat "send to X people or else Y", why do the phantom writers of internet jokes feel it necessary to include commentary such as "Here come the punchline.... wait for it... you'll kick yourself when you see this coming..." and then end the joke with comments like "if you didn't laugh at this there's something wrong with you!". I know it's a joke. I know it's supposed to be amusing. I know the punchline is coming. Why do you have to tell me this in every forward? I find the vaguely threatening "there's something the matter with you" sign-offs to be absolutely offensive. If the joke is funny, I'll laugh. You don't have to tell me to laugh and then criticize my sense of humour if I don't.
- —Guest DanaRose
Forwards of forwards of forwards of…
- Many of the same things previously mentioned irk me but probably the thing that bugs me the most is "nesting" emails within emails. I have one friend whom I've told about this and he still does it. I have to open two, three, or four emails to get to the one he's actually forwarding. So now, if I think it is worth forwarding, I not only have to delete all the previous name/addresses but also be sure that I forward that particular email and not the top level one that came to me.
- —Guest tennis
Blatant Errors
- I agree with the person who said that bad spelling and grammar are particularly annoying. However, […] people who don't know grammar or can't spell should think twice before throwing stones from their glass houses.
- —The_Mudge
Remove addresses, names when forwarding
- When receiving emails, i.e. containing jokes, movie clip attachments, midi clip attachments, or power point slide show files, it would be nice if all previously forwarded [recipients'] names along with their e-mail address would be removed. Also when forwarding e-mails to any one else whether it be 1, 2, 3 or more names, USE BCC when forwarding. Also send the e-mail to yourself, that way no one knows to whom the e-mail was sent to. A great way to store forwarded emails in the sent/out box.
- —andy18699
PLEASE use blind carbons for forwards
- The placing of email addresses in To: only increases the opportunity for scammers and phishers to harvest real addresses. The addresses should be in the BCC line to keep them private and protected. It's so very easy and so very much appreciated by your friends and relatives.
- —Guest SWBrown
E-mail Peeves
- My e-mail address starts with a capital letter. It irks me to see it on merchandisers' websites (from ordering online) and mailing lists with all small letters! This kind of thing teaches people (including kids) to use all small letters for everything, and I've received a few e-mails that way, from adults, too! I also despise poor grammar and spelling from educated Americans, and copying "no-such-words" (e.g. "snuck" for "sneaked" [and] using, "woken up" for "awakened") [as well as] incorrect uses of tenses ("sunk/sung/drunk/drug" for "sank/sang/ drank/dragged"). We need to stick to the proper things we learned in school, for writing - and not join the "dummy crowds" who immediately switch to whatever-comes-down-the-pike, right-or-wrong - which these days is usually the latter. What is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular. Kids follow what they see and hear, so we need to set good examples for them, and care about the images we show to the public.
- —Guest Jess
Too much time on our hands…
- The sheer fact that we are here, discussing nonsense. Life is too short to worry about whether your buddy SHOUTS or not. In fact, why am I here discussing the obvious ? Too much time on my hands!
- —Guest oopsHairyboluxwas...
My Pet Peeve
- I have to say that my biggest pet peeve about email is the rude and snarky people who think it is their RIGHT to rip apart others' language skills. What ever happened to politeness, understanding, and simple kindness? Or is it now only well educated snobs who are allowed to use the internet?
- —Guest Stormeyes
