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| Nightmare Email Feature |
 Title text: "...just got back and didn't see your message until just now. Sorry! -- TIME THIS MESSAGE SAT HALF-FINISHED IN DRAFTS FOLDER: 3 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes." |
Explanation
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This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by MULTIPLE DUDES - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. |
Most modern email clients provide tools to help their users read, write and keep track of email efficiently. For instance, the user may receive a notification if the email body contains wording that suggests a file has been attached, but there is no actual attachment, in order to prevent forgetting to include the intended file in the email.
This comic suggests a similar feature, one which would inform not the user, but the recipient of the message, how long the email has been revised before being sent. This is an expansion of a common feature of collaboration tools used by law firms, and modern word processors such as Microsoft Word 2016. Randall calls this his nightmare email feature, implying he spends too much time in revision of what should be simple email messages and that making himself, or worse - the recipient, aware of the actual time would make him anxious.
The title text describes a similar uncomfortable feature, which would inform the recipient how long a message has been sitting in the user's drafts folder, thus highlighting their procrastination as well as demonstrating that "(...)didn't see your message until just now" is a lie.
Randall has explored a related anxiety-inducing feature of instant messaging in 1886: Typing Notifications.
Transcript
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This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks. |
- [The final words of an email message:]
- enjoyed it! I'm busy this weekend, but let me know if you're free sometime next week and want to get dinner or something.
- [In light gray, an information message from the email client:]
- Total time spent revising this email before sending: 47 minutes 12 seconds
- [Caption below the panel:]
- My nightmare email feature
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