Not long after I started getting a lot of emails from this supplier, all with same message (autorespond). I'd sent her a few messages some days before about a computer problem a client was experiencing. After around 75 of these messages I rang and left a message on her pager. 150 more emails and I rang again. Her business partner rang and said he was heading back to their office to see what was happening. More emails.

My supplier rang following morning sounding very sheepish. She hadn't thought about consequences of an auto respond linked with a read receipt. In her defence, she'd been very tired and was working late. Every time my computer logged another of her responses it sent back a read receipt and her autoresponder sent another reply to my read receipt, autorespond, read receipt, autorespond, read receipt, autorespond.......... get picture? I had some idea of what might be happening but could not stop process. All I could do was block her email address at my end until she woke up to what was happening.

Just thought you might appreciate what can happen if read receipt, and auto respond are used together without thinking as to why you would do that. Of course, if you use them separately you are unlikely to run into this kind of trouble.Next month I'll touch on using Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) field and use of backgrounds for your emails.

Bad Language On occasion over past few months I've noticed some messages with bad language posted to online discussion groups that are usually maintained for business purposes, i.e. those groups that are designed to assist people with their line of business. Whilst I appreciate that we all get annoyed with some things I really do not feel that bad language has a place in a public forum that is used for business. Perhaps this might be an old fashioned value but I doubt that people would write a business letter using bad language so I cannot understand them doing same when posting a message to a business group. Think carefully when writing your email - is language you are using something that might offend another person? Could message get in front of someone you'd like to do business with? How would you like them to think of you? It only takes a moment to think about what you're written and to read it again before sending it on.