If I still had my very first e-mail account, it would now be old enough to buy alcohol. ‘Way back then, there were some hurdles to clear before really getting into e-mail – a Commodore 64 computer, 300 baud modem, lovely text-based interface for MCI Mail, and the fact that there was absolutely no one else to send e-mail to. But, no matter. I can still claim to have had e-mail as early as 1985.
That being said, my mind boggles that The Link, which supposedly provides the Greater Greenville populace with the hippest, most happening news, would have as one of its lead stories recently an article entitled "E-mail Gone Bad". This article is chock full of cautionary tales about dolts who used "reply to all" when they meant to use "reply", or who sent their (fill in the blank – latest love story, latest rant about the boss, etc., etc) to the entire employee base. Sure, this still happens on the rare occasion, but is this really one of the hippest things upon which to be reporting? I’m afraid this only cements The Link’s position as a shill for The Established Media.
For several years now, many technology writers have been discussing the Death of E-mail. While still flourishing for business, it has been replaced by instant messaging and phone text messaging as more rapid means of communication, especially amongst the Digital Natives who are supposedly the target demographic for The Link.
This is old news. If The Link really wants to be the coolest publication in town (which ain’t gonna happen as long as The Beat is around), it really needs to cull their articles for timeliness.