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Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

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Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#101

Post by rabblac »

vorador wrote: post #89
abcampbell wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think no one has fixed email because the problem is too hard, or because there is a lack of creative/ambitious founders?

The main reason is that you need to be backward compatible with 30 years of terrible hacks. That's why there's a ton of vaporware email clients --- there's a huge amount of work that most of your users don't suspect. Full-disclosure: I work at a company building an open source email client ( https://nylas.com/N1 ) and an API to simplify email ( https://nylas.com/docs )

Well, it's from some time that I've been looking for a modern and open source email client, but N1 looks very promising.

Little question: do you plan to support PGP?

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#102

Post by nacs »

apancik wrote: post #30
o_____________o wrote: post #21

Good stuff. Why did you use "respond" instead of "reply"? It's just as descriptive, and is the canonical term. It takes mental overhead to parse new terminology. And I see the business angle in "delegate", but forwarding isn't always for purposes of delegation. Maybe this: Dismiss Sleep Forward Reply

I used "respond" straight from Merlin Mann's lecture. I agree that it might create some mental overhead. I'll make a note to change it

Honestly, you should change all the words except "Done". When people are using "simple" email software, they don't want to have to think about dictionary/uncommon words like "defer" and "delegate".

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#103

Post by grinich »

rabblac wrote: post #101
vorador wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main reason is that you need to be backward compatible with 30 years of terrible hacks. That's why there's a ton of vaporware email clients --- there's a huge amount of work that most of your users don't suspect. Full-disclosure: I work at a company building an open source email client ( https://nylas.com/N1 ) and an API to simplify email ( https://nylas.com/docs )

Well, it's from some time that I've been looking for a modern and open source email client, but N1 looks very promising. Little question: do you plan to support PGP?

It's in development by several N1 users: https://github.com/nylas/N1/issues/96

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#104

Post by tomc1985 »

cellularmitosis wrote: post #82
tomc1985 wrote: post #77

Too... Plain for my tastes. Not really feeling this whole "apps should look like websites" thing. And too much whitespace!

You've addressed the visual presentation. Now, what do you think about the ideas he is presenting?

The app itself is yet-another-email-client. Those original verbs in the screenshot are just pre-built macros. I don't consider "Inbox Zero" a worthy goal -- because the REAL goal should be reducing your total volume of email, by conducting one's work in a way that minimizes reliance and interactions with other people for day-to-day matters.

IMHO the REAL solution to less email is smarter communications and personal empowerment: keep your meetings short and laser-focused, keep conversations focused and purposeful, make sure everyone is in sync before beginning, and don't hire/work with stupids. I shouldn't have to email Bob just to ask him to request deliverable X -- I should be empowered (and intelligent) enough to get X on my own, and if I don't know how then I should use my powers of observation and inference to figure that out.

People over-rely on email, and on communication in general.

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#105

Post by orky56 »

athenot wrote: post #40

Would be intersting to be able to tag the email as it's being marked "Done". It's the GTD analogy of filing it away. Yes full-text search can turn up almost anything but a tag may help for smartmailboxes or further post-processing work.

This Gmail workflow that I use religiously does the tagging but lacks PlainEmail's distraction-free interface to take the actions. I'm currently using keyboard shorts to accomplish this: L (to label), then P (for priority)/W (for waiting) or just Star (for reference). http://klinger.io/post/71640845938/dont-drown-in-email-how-t...

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#106

Post by orky56 »

robotresearcher wrote: post #67
orky56 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Defer seems to ambiguously capture both snooze and delegate.

Defer only means to put off until later. There's no delegate meaning. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/defer

2nd definition further down has this:

verb (used without object), deferred, deferring. 1. to yield respectfully in judgment or opinion (usually followed by to): We all defer to him in these matters.

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#107

Post by lyqwyd »

abcampbell wrote: post #85
ignoramous wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

---- Empirically, the way to do really big things seems to be to start with deceptively small things. Want to dominate microcomputer software? Start by writing a Basic interpreter for a machine with a few thousand users. Want to make the universal web site? Start by building a site for Harvard undergrads to stalk one another. ... I think the way to use these big ideas is not to try to identify a precise point in the…

Do you think no one has fixed email because the problem is too hard, or because there is a lack of creative/ambitious founders?

This isn't about fixing email, it's about building big things off small ideas.

Microsoft didn't just turn into the biggest BASIC software company.

The point is that the outcome can often be unrecognizable from the origin, and not to worry to much about the endpoint, but focus on doing one thing well at the start.

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#108

Post by lyqwyd »

cdmo wrote: post #98
CptJamesCook wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of the app isn't to reinvent email. It's to help you get through your inbox quicker.

Yes, good point. And I hate to sound like a wet blanket on a new tool/thing. Just an honest reaction to yet another email aid app. I'm sure there will be people who use this and find it useful. I'm just trying to make the point that at some point all the lifehacks/efficiency-improvements in the world will not fix the problem of being over-burdened.

No tool will ever solve the problem of being over-burdened, as becoming more efficient just means doing more in the same amount of time.

Being over-burdened is a personal / social problem, and the only solution is not taking on / expecting more than is realistic... easier said than done!

Efficient use of time is it's own goal, and is orthogonal to the overall load.

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#109

Post by stinkytaco »

bttf wrote: post #49

Reading "Tinder for Email" nearly made me headbutt my screen.

Did it? Really?

Like as in you started your head toward the screen but stopped? Or perhaps it occurred to you that headbutting the screen would be desirable but you refrained from doing so out of regard for your health and the health of your equipment. Or are you simply using "headbutting your screen" as an analogy for how you felt, which would be sort of ironic.

Re: Show HN: Plain Email – An app for one-touch email processing

#110

Post by shostack »

Xeoncross wrote: post #18

This assumes an inbox is a type of "project" that needs to be "completed". It's structured on the concept of removing messages from my screen until there is nothing left for me to "do". My inbox is often more of a conversation that I fade in and out of. Sometimes it resembles a facebook feed. Granted, I'm not a type A personality, but not all email is has to be "done" anymore than all reading books need to be "done".…

This is how I've come to use email, but the issue is the lack/limit of easy ways to make sure things don't get lost in the feed. It is easy for stuff to pile up, and that's been a real struggle for me to manage. I've given up on having inbox zero.
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