Getting Upset Over Nothing, or Be Sure To Read The *Whole* Email
A couple of days ago, my email notifier popped up a new window saying, "New Mail from Todd Brill: 'Just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know that your blog comments...'". Now I've recently been leaving some comments here and there on Todd Brill's blog -- Todd is a fellow Victoria BC blogger that I met at the recent Meetup.com meeting. So I didn't know Todd that well, and here I am leaving all these comments on his blog about this technology or that technology -- you know, the stuff I'm passionate about. And I wasn't too sure if he was getting annoyed with me overstaying my welcome on his blog -- that is, until I received that email notification:
"New Mail from Todd Brill: 'Just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know that your blog comments...'"
When I read that, my heart sank. Finally Todd had had enough and was writing to tell me that my blog comments were getting a bit off topic, and to please confine my comments to the subject of the post -- or so I thought. Actually, I had received an email very like this from John Zeratsky, so I thought, here comes another one.
I prepared my rebuttal -- would I say, "OK then, see ya" and never come back? I mean, c'mon it's a blog for heaven's sake -- can't we have a little leeway for freedom of expression? I mean, it's not like I'm saying anything offensive; I'm just veering a little off topic, and the subject is still related -- I'm just using the post as a springboard, which is I think valid. "Fine," I steamed, vowing not to attend the next Meetup meeting. How could I? The tension would be unbearable.
Anyway, I was curious to read the entire email, and it really went like this:
"Just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know that your blog comments don't seem to be functioning properly. When I clicked on the 'Tradeoff between blogging now and blogging later' comment button, I got a 404 error."
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Todd was not "letting me know that my blog comments were getting a little off topic" -- he was "letting me know that my blog comments don't seem to be functioning properly". The man was just trying to help me out by informing me about a problem with my blogging software. When I read that, my emotions did a 180 and instead of feeling angry and frustrated, suddenly I felt extremely grateful (and extremely guilty!).
It just goes to show you, Jon's Productivity Principle #1: Be Sure To Read The *Whole* Email.
"New Mail from Todd Brill: 'Just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know that your blog comments...'"
When I read that, my heart sank. Finally Todd had had enough and was writing to tell me that my blog comments were getting a bit off topic, and to please confine my comments to the subject of the post -- or so I thought. Actually, I had received an email very like this from John Zeratsky, so I thought, here comes another one.
I prepared my rebuttal -- would I say, "OK then, see ya" and never come back? I mean, c'mon it's a blog for heaven's sake -- can't we have a little leeway for freedom of expression? I mean, it's not like I'm saying anything offensive; I'm just veering a little off topic, and the subject is still related -- I'm just using the post as a springboard, which is I think valid. "Fine," I steamed, vowing not to attend the next Meetup meeting. How could I? The tension would be unbearable.
Anyway, I was curious to read the entire email, and it really went like this:
"Just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know that your blog comments don't seem to be functioning properly. When I clicked on the 'Tradeoff between blogging now and blogging later' comment button, I got a 404 error."
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Todd was not "letting me know that my blog comments were getting a little off topic" -- he was "letting me know that my blog comments don't seem to be functioning properly". The man was just trying to help me out by informing me about a problem with my blogging software. When I read that, my emotions did a 180 and instead of feeling angry and frustrated, suddenly I felt extremely grateful (and extremely guilty!).
It just goes to show you, Jon's Productivity Principle #1: Be Sure To Read The *Whole* Email.
posted by Jonathan at
3/24/2005 09:24:00 p.m.
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