I should stop posting new LJ entries when I have so many comments to respond to. But I really need your help.
How do you deal with email? I have multiple accounts. The one I use for fannish activities (LJ, fanfiction.net, etc.) is a Yahoo account. But I have an INSANE number of emails in my inbox. Some are LJ notifications for comments, posts I'm tracking, and so on. Some are honest-to-goodness emails from people. I'm sure I've not replied to emails I should have, and that ppl think I'm a schmuck as a result.
I'm sure things are falling through the cracks. Some msgs are in folders, but there's an overwhelming number of messages just crowded into that damned inbox, and I just don't know what to do.
So I ask you again, how do YOU deal with emails -- in general and/or with LJ notifications?
Help! I need somebody...
course i still don't read everything (it's mostly promotional stuff that gets ignored), but at least it's kinda sorted. :)
Once I get my email cleaned up, I try very hard to stay on top of it, but I have a bit more free time and a lot less email than you do, so my advice may not work for you.
Hugs to you!
ETA: Oh, I do have other email accounts, but I have them all forwarded to my gmail, so I only have the one to deal with.
Edited at 2009-12-03 08:56 pm (UTC)
-most of my fanfic alerts (FF.net) go to a separate Hotmail account... this keeps my main Inbox clear of all those notifications.
-and then I have my main Hotmail account, which gets everything else. LJ alerts, personal mail, stuff from my daughter's school, and all kinds of random crap. But I have subfolders for everything... and I tend to be an e-mail packrat, rarely deleting anything. *sigh*
You know what, screw that... don't make a system like mine cause it really sucks. LOL! I have to go through randomly and clear my Inbox and trust, it's TIME for me to do that again... with over 100 unread messages in there now. I think I'm in the same predicament as you.
Gonna track this post and see if anyone else has actual good ideas... and as a result, clutter my Inbox some more. ;)
I currently have 6166 messages in my Inbox. I don't delete anything. I get maybe 30 e-mails a day and I have an iPhone so I usually check it about mid-day to go through it.
I don't use filters (but I probably should). I like seeing everything there and since the search box is on top I can just search for a keyword if I need to find something specifically. I might go through my Inbox and start filtering.
My yahoo account is my main account, the one I use to email my friends/employers/family. There is only one exception: all my LJ notifications go here.
I use my gmail account for most things I don't want my real name to be attached to (dating sites, FF.net, IJ, JF, emails to fannish people)
I also have a "dummy" hotmail account that I use when I just need to enter an email address for some kind of online form. It's full of useless spam but I don't use it for anything important, so I don't care. :P
I have one email account through my cable provider that is forwarded to Windows mail on my laptop. That email also gets forwarded to my Blackberry where I can read it throughout the day. So every few days or so, I will login into the Windows mail and just delete and move stuff. It's so much easier since I've already read it on my Blackberry.
But, like I said. I don't get a large amount of email. When I sign in to clear out my inbox, I generally only have between 40 and 50 emails.
Edited at 2009-12-03 09:11 pm (UTC)
I have my main account, at comcast. I have gmail now (and use it to keep a little buffer between Facebook--where I don't use my real name--and my other life activities). I have a work-issued account that I'm requird to use for work business.
I send all LJ notifications and ff.net comments to comcast. I have to send Yuletide to gmail now since comcast is freaking out over it and won't receive from Yuletide.
I occasionally just go back through my mail and answer stuff and sort it into folders. Sometimes I double up on answers, but that's okay. Sometimes I miss giving answers, and I hope that people will forgive me as I do them. If it's something I WANT a reply to, sometimes I remind, figuring that it may have been buried for them too.
And re: LJ posting and replying, I don't think you are obligated to give answers to everything. You do what you can. You have a gorgeous daughter, and that is your first priority and anyone who doesn't get this and respect it, well, fuck 'em. The rest of us? We'll still be here.
*hugs*
I don't have anything to add to the great ideas already stated here, but this statement made me laugh! Nice one, Amilyn!
The rest of us? We'll still be here.
Absolutely true!
Hope you find a system that works for you! :)
The Hotmail - All my fanfiction.net stuff goes here (I get substantially less than you do). If it's reviews I read and put them in a folder. If it's alerts that a new chapter of something I'm reading is up, I leave it in the inbox until I can read it and then delete it. If it's a new story, it may sit in the inbox for a few days and if I don't get to it I have a folder for when I'm bored. All of my personal emails(family, friends, etc) go here as well. My MSU application stuff is going there as well for the moment at least. Most of my online shopping sites also send promo stuff to that account as well. I usually delete that stuff as it comes in. General message board things go here too, copies of PMs, notifications of replies to stories I've posted, etc.
The 2nd Hotmail - My community college has our emails set up through hotmail. All of my current school related stuff goes in there, that's it. I check it about every other day unless I'm waiting on something.
The Yahoo - LJ notifications go here. There's a couple online places that send promo ads here too but most of that goes to the main hotmail. My Fanforum Mod things go here too but they won't for much longer since I'm stepping down. Some personal things go in and out of here like with betas. I have "Keep" folder for anything I don't want to get rid of - birthday wish comments, my favorite LJ reviews on my stories - just odds and ends of things I like and want to hang on to. In general there are usually about 10 things sitting in it's inbox for months. They get deleted eventually, but I don't like this one's inbox being totally empty, lol. Most of the comments get deleted as I reply to them.
The Gmail - I created this a couple months ago with the intention of closing down my main hotmail one, or at least substantially lessening what goes in there. So far, it hasn't happened though. So many mailing lists and what not go to the main hotmail. It's just going to be a lot of work to change everything over. Plus I've been with hotmail for so long(7 and half years) that I have basically unlimited storage and have EGADS of saved emails, etc. I may make the move eventually though. Right now it's for Wave! :D
I technically have an AIM mail account too, but nothing goes there and if it did I wouldn't know. I just use it for messenger *shrugs*
SORRY!
I have 2 emails: My Yahoo account for most online related ventures and my Comcast for all my real world ventures.
Edited at 2009-12-03 10:20 pm (UTC)
I am notoriously bad at this in my personal e-mail accounts, but it works for me for professional e-mail. Once you've done whatever you need to do (reply, or whatever), the mail gets deleted or moved to another folder.
The downside is that if you aren't diligent about it, you end up with thousands of e-mails in your inbox and it's a huge task to deal with them.
It works fine keeping it all in one place - although my inbox does fill up I'm quite methodical about deleting anything I've dealt with or moving it to a different folder if I want to keep it.
I don't know if having a separate address for mail from friends would work for me as I'd just forget to check it. My yahoo mail is the first tab that opens as my homepage. It also helps that I spend way too much time online ;)
When I'm on LJ I open each entry I want to read from my flist in a separate window until I get to where I left off last time I checked. Then I can go kind of arrange things in the order I want to reply to them, as opposed to trying to work my way down the list in order.
Having said that, I've yet to go through all the emails dedicated to design.
I sometimes read snarky entries on my flist bitching about how ppl should first respond to comments before posting a new entry. I disagree, and seeing those entries always irritates me. If I have something to say I have a right to post it, and I'm sorry if that means someone has to wait a week or two or 3 longer to get a response to me. If it's important, I'll respond quickly. If it's something fannish I'll put it off, because fandom comes second to real life.
I have one email that everything comes to, because I just don't think I'd check another email if I set it up, honestly. I have one set up for if anyone from LJ wants to email me, but that is set up to forward everything to my personal account, so.
A tip, of something that I'm trying to do right now, is that when I go to clean things out I go, ok, if it's been more than 2 weeks/a month/certain time frame, than I will delete it. And then just move on and deal with only the most recent stuff.