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---
layout: post
title: Sent from my iPhone
tags:
- opinion
nodeid: 308
created: 1302019200
---
<img width="150" align="right" alt="This gif is stupid" src="http://agentdero.cachefly.net/unethicalblogger.com/images/email.gif"/>
Since moving to Berkeley a little under a year ago, I've started to have a
commute. A good and proper, bored to tears commute via
[BART](http://www.bart.gov). A commute combined with a proper smartphone means
I spent the first and last 40 minutes of every single workday answering emails
and reading [reddit](http://www.reddit.com).
While firing off some emails this evening I noticed the signature I added a
*long* time ago: "*Sent from my Nokia n900*"
Originally I added the signature as a caddy jab at
[iPhone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone) users who have had
the "Sent from my iPhone" appended to every email sent from the device going
back to January of 2007. The more I started to
<strike>over-analyze</strike> think about it, these signatures actually make a
**lot** of sense and should be included on just about every device that offers
a limited email client.
If for no other reason than to inform the reader(s) of the email that it might
suck, for a number of legitimate reasons.
**Goddamn autocorrect**: sending a grammatically flawness email from a
smartphone is impossible. Invariable an phone will auto-correct "schmidt" to
"schlong" and all of a sudden you look like a moron. Having a "Sent from my
`mobile device`" footer is like a disclaimer. To whom it may concern, my email
may be riddled with mistakes, you'll have to forgive me, I'm walking down the
street responding to emails that could probably wait.
**Top posting**: for the record, I *hate* top-posts and typically try to avoid
them at every turn, for reasons that I won't go into in this post. If your
top-posted message contains your "mobile disclaimer", it's acceptable. Trying
*not* to top-post on smartphones these days is near-impossible, so nobody will
think any less of you.
**Brevity**: let's face it, there's a lot of extra words in sentences that
exist purely to provide some inter-personal lubricant. "Hey Jared, would you
mind checking on those services running on those machines when you get a
chance, thanks, love you too, etc." When emailing on the go, particularly when
you're in an on-call situation, brevity is key (especially if somehow your
production machines are offline). "Check services on machines 1-12" without the
mobile disclaimer might make the reader think I'm an impatient twat (I am, but
irregardless), instead of being strapped for time.
----
On the flip-side of all these reasons, if you're using a desktop/web client, I
expect you to put as much thought into composing your email as you expect me to
put into reading it. You know who you are.
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