Read Receipts

[Arisa81]

Ever since a thread was posted in the freelance writing area about e-mail and how unreliable it can be I've been wondering if anyone here uses an e-mail program that offers read receipts or a program that you can download. I did a google search and there are such programs, though if they work I can't be sure. The last thing I would want to do is invade someone's privacy with something like this, but I would also be very curious to see how many of my e-mails actually make it through (especially with submissions!)
I've gotten back in touch with a friend lately and e-mailed her a couple of times with no reply, which makes me wonder if she got them or they ended up in her junk folder. I'm not sure I want to do this yet but I would love everyone's input.

[AnnieColleen]

Outlook can do it, but I don't know how reliable it is when sending to different email programs.

(Although, for me, read receipts are a nuisance. Outlook also lets the recipient choose not to send them, even if requested, and I usually have it not send them.)

[Kudra]

They're annoying. And even if you request a read receipt, the person on the other end can set their own program to not send.

[Jamesaritchie]

Read receipt is a pain in the butt, and not many editors/agents like them. I certainly don't, and I always disable the process.

[ATP]

I am not sure what you're referring to?

Do you mean the read receipt/notification that you have when you send an e-mail via AW PM? The option?

Or are you referring to software which informs a sender if his
e-mail has been received and opened by the recipient, unbeknownst to the recipient?

[Linda Adams]

It's a feature in Outlook, and you need Outlook on both ends. Basically, when the recipient opens the email, Outlook says something like "The sender has requested a read receipt" and then asks the recipient if they want to send it. If they click no, it doesn't get sent. If they click yes, then it sends the sender a receipt saying the email has been read. If they don't have Outlook, it doesn't work.

I think in older versions of Outlook it may have just done this automatically, but not in 2003. Apparently, several years ago--this was written up in the newspaper--a person sent out an email for some office function to everyone in a large company. Not only did she have read receipt enabled, but she also had a notification set up so that when it hit the email box, it notified her. She got something like 10,000 arrived notifications, plus the out of office notifications, plus the read receipts as people opened the email. It crashed the server.

Most people find read receipt annoying. When I get one at work, I always end up clicking no because it seems like it's being used on trivial emails. I suspect agents would treat it as the equivelent of sending a query registered mail. Meaning, you would probably go from consideration to annoyance. One agent said she received 20,000 queries in a year. If all of those were equeries and had read receipt requests where she had to click yes or no, can you imagine how annoying that would be after about the tenth time?

[myscribe]

Don't some programs have delivery receipt as well as read receipt?

It might be less of a hassle than the read receipt.

[trumancoyote]

I think they're rude.

I can understand you wanting to know whether or not someone received your e-mails, but that's really none of your business, to tell the truth. Besides, who's lame enough not to check their junk-mail folder?

I purposely don't respond to people who feel the need to check and see whether I'm ignoring them or not.

But I'm an ass.

[Linda Adams]

Don't some programs have delivery receipt as well as read receipt?

It might be less of a hassle than the read receipt.

Outlook will tell you this, and it also tell you if the person deleted the email. But again, both sides need Outlook to do this.

[Bartholomew]

The only reliable way to know if your email was received or not is through automated replies. Read receipts are annoying and rude, and many people bypass them altogether.

[Kudra]

I purposely don't respond to people who feel the need to check and see whether I'm ignoring them or not.

Me too. If I want to respond, I'll respond. Hold the proverbial gun to my head, and you can be sure you won't be hearing from me.

I'm an ass, too.

[Arisa81]

I'm pretty much thinking along the lines you guys are. I'd probably be annoyed if I knew someone was using that to specifically check up on me. Actually, it's not them actually READING it that I'd want to be aware of, it's if it actually got through. I always fear my e-mails don't go through. It's alright though, I'm not desperate about it. I've not been doing badly this far. It was just an idea I wanted to run by people.
And who doesn't check the junk folder? This particular friend of mine.

I've actually known a girl who would constantly send e-cards to a friend of mine and she always chose the option that let her know when they were opened. But the girl was a stalker and that was completely creepy. My friend ended up deleting them without reading them.

Thanks everyone!! :)

[Medievalist]

They're annoying and rude, and mostly won't work because any mail server admin with a clue turns off the server switch that lets them work as an annoyin and rude security risk.

[jodiodi]

Wow. I must be the only one who doesn't give read/delivered receipts any thought. I've used them in all my jobs all my life--standard business practice where I've worked because we have to not only keep track of what other people do, but what we do as well. I never give them any thought and don't consider them rude or spying. Just tracks accountability so I can prove I did something rather than worrying about what the receiver did.

[Arisa81]

Thanks for replying Jodi, it's nice to hear another opinion as well.

My main thing is just wanting to be sure my e-mail went through. But that's something we'll always have to wonder about I guess. The only way to know for sure is if the person writes back.

[jodiodi]

you can use delivery receipts if you have outlook. I don't remember if it asks the recipient about delivery receipts, though I know it will about read receipts. And if you're not sending to another outlook, it'll still tell you if it's relayed.

[Jamesaritchie]

AOL also has a read receipt feature, and there are other software programs that do the same job, even without Outlook. But I don't know anyone who likes them.

Many jobs do use them, but that's a different situation.

[ModoReese]

I don't like them because whenever a sender uses one, I inevitably get a follow up email wondering why I haven't responded to the previous email since I've "read" it.

I think most agents would not respond to read receipts for that exact reason.

Just my 2 cents Canadian...

Michelle

[spike]

We use Outlook at work and most people like the read reciepts. But there are problems. If you set your Outlook to display the email when it comes in, it can be marked as "read".

Also, if you use the preview, but tell Outlook not to mark it as "read" you can actually read the email and delete it and Outlook wants to send "Deleted-Not Read" to the sender.

I understand the OP's question. I just send a status check email to an agent who, I thought, had my mss for over 3 months. She never got it. Damn Internet ate my email again!

[aka eraser]

Hate 'em. Refuse to acknowledge them.

[ChunkyC]

The basic read receipt is supposed to be a general email standard, so it should work with any email client that supports the feature, not just Outlook. I get them occasionally in Thunderbird, and depending on what it's about, I'll go ahead and let the receipt go out.

For the most part, though, I too find them annoying. If someone emails me and I don't respond in a reasonable amount of time, email me again. If the message doesn't get through for some reason, you'll get an 'undeliverable' error returned to you.

[BardSkye]

They have their uses in business but ordinarily I hate 'em. I would consider it very rude to use the option when sending to someone I want to do something for me.