The Subject: Field is for the Subject!

A site visitor e-mailed me today about a person they communicate with who puts the content of the e-mail in the Subject: field. Usually a long winded question. If you open the e-mail — nothing there. What doesn’t this mean? What should we do!?

Concerned inquiries about this subject come in through this site week in and week out. It seems to be a subject quite a few are concerned about.

I communicate with a few folks who do this as well. These are onliners who have proven to be lazy when it comes to their e-mail use. For them it is easier to just type their question in the Subject: field and hit Send. Wow — just imagine all that time saved not having to move your cursor to the body of the e-mail!

They also don’t have to make the effort to reflect common courtesies by avoiding all the keystrokes involved in typing a greeting, closing or let’s be honest — a coherent message. The approach leads to miscommunications, misunderstandings and unnecessary e-mails that request clarification.

For those who take this approach, it appears lazy is an understatement. When advised about this improper practice some just blow it off or think this a trivial issue. If not the epitome of lazy — why else would they be so resistant to doing things the right way? They don’t call it the Message: field — it’s the Subject: field!

Let’s forget about proper use and courtesy for a moment. Another negative ramification of sending an e-mail with no content in the message or body of the e-mail is one risk’s their e-mails getting blocked or sent right to Trash. Spammers send empty e-mails to check the validity of addresses on their list and blank messages are one of many spam filtering red flags that networks and software use to block suspicious e-mails.

So, is having your e-mail misidentified as spam and blocked or sent right to Trash incentive to use the Subject: field properly? For some it may not…

By conitnuing to place content where it does not belong, these folks simply continue to reflect their overwhelming ignorance and lack of courtesy when it comes to e-mailing others.

The Subject: field should include a brief and concise description of the contents of the e-mail — not the entire message. That’s simply how e-mail works.

sub·ject | n: that which forms a basic matter of thought, discussion, investigation, etc.: a subject of conversation.

The fact is, like it or not, to use the Subject: field for more than the short and concise description of what your e-mail message is about, is a totally inappropriate and incorrect use of the Subject: field. To continue to do so after being advised of the proper way that educated onliners use e-mail and you reflect a total disregard for understanding technology and doing things the right way.

Use the Subject: for what it is meant and you can avoid these unfavorable perceptions while becoming a person that is more enjoyable to communicate with. Continue to disregard the Subject: fields proper use and don’t be surprised if those you e-mail, (after cringing when seeing your name in their inbox) then choose not to reply.

You may also be interested in:

• The Subject is the Subject
• 10 E-mail Etiquette Resolutions for 2010