email threads

email threads
i love a good email thread. take 10 of your friends who regularly check their email at work, a topic that all recipients have an opinion about - presto change-o you've got the best quick escape for the middle of a tough work day.

normally the subject of the email thread is irrelevant after 5-6 emails, because someone strikes a tangent that everyone follows. most of the responses are 1 liners, every 10-15 minutes your inbox gets a few new messages, and holding your laughter is sometimes impossible within your dead silent office job. you have to play off the laughter with a fake cough or learn to do the silent laugh, which is pretty embarrassing if you are caught in the middle of.

the beauty of this phenomenon is that that it's not something that you can force into creation. the best email chains are organic and all inclusive. each recipient has to be close to or on their email during the short few hours that the email chain is alive. the chain is hot for a short period of time, and it's almost an intense moment to juggle anything else while the emails keep coming in.

then there's always that token person who was missing from the email chain, and returns to see their iphone or blackberry or inbox has 64 new email messages, all new from the last hour or so.

small things like this really brighten my day.