links for 2007-10-16

• Techmamas: Paperless Thank-You's
  Better than nothing, right?

Comments

[shirky]

hmmm...to me it is the same as nothing.

have you ever received an evite thankyou? they are dumb and insulting. 'Thank you for attending my [blank]. It was great to see you and [blank].'

The point of thank yous is that they demand thought. Auto emails that require no thought defeat the purpose.

[adrienne]

Maybe it's Barney singing "there's a way to do it wrong and there's a way to do it right" about good manners in the background, but I feel like email thank yous can be well-received in some cases.

I've received some heartfelt thank yous by email that I really value, but the sender invested emotion and thought in them.

It while it would be frustrating to get one that you feel is automated- but better than nothing. With some relatives we now send their gifts to other family who lives near them so that we know the packages were even delivered. With that particular family we would feel some relief to have direct acknowledgment that they received the mailed items.

And, yes, it's a complicated family relationship or we would have ceased sending presents years ago.

[Beth B.]

It is amazing how people have such varied responses for email thank-yous. I completely understand how important and special hand written thank-you's are. But what about the mother of an infant that commented on my post that is so sleep deprived that she can't think straight. Why can't she send personal email thank-you's (she mentioned using Shutterfly cards and attaching a picture) and not feel guilty.. If someone is not sending an automated email response - but writing individual emails (or online cards) with personal messages - then why is that wrong?