71–80 of 84 posts
http://blog.getsmokesignal.com also shows laser focus, sparse and reflective pieces.
Their simple refocus on sender is refreshing and quite cunning.
Keep up the good work.
I get the feeling that this is a MVP or feature test for something bigger. Because truth be told, I don't see why people would care about someone's inbox health, especially since people use their Gmail account as a garbage dump+todo list+backup. I've seen inboxes with THOUSANDS of unread email and most people I know don't archive anything at all.
Is(n't) this 'bad'?
I avoid email in some circumstances because people don't seem to use it well (Admittedly what is meant by 'well' can be subjective). Most of them have hundreds/thousands of unread emails.
This provides a greater benefit to the recipient than the sender. Jack wants to send Jill an email and using SmokeSignal can send it when there is the least noise in Jill's inbox. SmokeSignal is a utility for him not her. Devise a way to implement/market SmokeSignal to Jack, in which he persuades Jill to use it.
We think Jill would want to use it to decrease the number of cock pics in her inbox.
20 emails is far from "unbearable" in my mind.
Also, making it obvious that this is based on unread emails would be helpful. My immediate reaction was this was for zero-inbox-nazis, of which I know a few among friends, but the "unbearable mental weight" of seeing a list of read emails just doesn't impact me the way it does them I guess. ;-)
Other than that, yes, clever hack. But honestly I'd be afraid of the impression I'm making by broadcasting to everyone that I'm constantly swamped. "Unbearable" has some pretty overly dramatic connotations.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I appreciate a good hack, but just can't get past the idea that this is a solution in search of a problem." I had exactly the same reaction: good hack, where's the problem? The solution to the problem of too much email already exists, and that solution is ... email. Email is asynchronous, and you get to decide when and what to do with it.
Overflowing inboxes are the problem. Perhaps we should have provided more context about what we're trying to fix : ) These guys do a good job: http://emailcharter.org We're trying to provide a framework around that first rule of respecting the recipient's time.
I understand that this is a temporary situation, but you probably shouldn't say "nothing else" and immediately deny it.
Otherwise, the idea is cute, and the site is nice. However, I have a feeling that people won't want to broadcast that much information to just anyone. It's a little like adding "my desk is really untidy (or tidy, or whatever) right now" as an email signature.
Nice use of google/gmail api nevertheless.
I installed it to see if it works/because it looks fun but will probably uninstall it tomorrow when i start freaking out about the privacy/security/my-outgoing-emails-being-blocked implications.
Also it said my inbox is 'unbearable' straight off the bat so presumably you just check total unread or total inbox messages not the ratio - I have a massive inbox but no recent messages that are not read right now so I feel it's very 'bearable'.