I really like email. Something about its free as in freedom nature/protocol fills me up with joy as I fire up my email clients! It’s just nice and warm compared to all the corpo bullshit messengers. Sadly, Google and Microsoft are trying their best to lock down email. But I believe it’s gonna outlast their shenanigans, hopefully. Meanwhile, I have my trusty local email clients to keep me company
Email is still great for DMs if you only use it for talking to individuals, and not to sign up to things
Submitted 5 months ago by ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world to showerthoughts@lemmy.world
Comments
fossphi@lemm.ee 5 months ago
cybervseas@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I feel you. I have a Gmail address for account logins, shopping, social media (Lemmy, Mastodon, LinkedIn). I have my own email domain and server for people I actually want to communicate with. Ever since I set it up a few months ago I’ve been enjoying email so much more again.
ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world 5 months ago
why people have moved from email to im is beyond me.
one gives up topical conversation threads with relevant aubject lines, easier search and retrieval, thread-specific groups and readers, more robust spam-filtration, the lack of necessity of a phone number, more flexible options for cross-platform access, downloadability of your messages, options to host your own server, and so on.
in return, you get perhaps a tad more convenience from an im – even that is debatable, though.
it’s high time we all returned to the friendly envelope instead of the intrusive chat bubble.
fubbernuckin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
It’s convenience. That’s really it. And I don’t like to admit it, but that level of inconvenience is too high for me to try using it that way.
Ziglin@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It’s simpler to type a quick a text without needing a subject line. Also internet messaging is usually more secure because even though email now usually uses TLS it stored on your email providers server without encryption. Using apps like Signal this is not the case (texting still is unencrypted or proprietary though).
muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 5 months ago
Except its completely unencrypted
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 5 months ago
So is regular mail. Should we stop sending physical letters?
muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 5 months ago
So is regular mail. Should we stop sending physical letters?
Yeah its a waste of paper
If it’s that important, write your email in code.
Or simply use a e2e encrypted service that does that infinitely better than u ever could urself.
Nighed@feddit.uk 5 months ago
I mean, your connection to your email provider is encrypted (I hope!) - probably with TLS
Your email provider will communicate with the receivers email server over an encrypted connection (probably TLS again)
Your recipient connects to their provider over a secure connection too!
Yes, your email companies can read it, but that is the case with lots of IM providers too…
muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 5 months ago
Why would u not use an e2e encrypted im service. Thats the bare minimum.
LavenderDay3544@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Use GPG.
ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Yeah, it’s not without faults, so ProtonMail and similar may be a good compromise, or encrypting and sending longer documents. Ideally one day email will be rebuilt from the ground up with encryption.
Also to address your later comments, E2EE messengers are great, but short form writing is simply a different use case from long form.
bradboimler@lemmy.world 5 months ago
JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Somewhat true if you have anyone left who wants to talk to you by email.
First people stopped using it for socializing, and now it’s slowly on the way out for work communication too IME. Not secure enough. Better to use a secure messenger which requires login. And personally I quite like this, assuming the messenger is on the web and requires no software install.
The reality is that the main surviving use case for email is as a notification engine.
vaper@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I don’t remember the last time I actually emailed someone I knew as a form of communication. I forward newsletters to my wife sometimes. The culture of texting, where you can take your time to respond (within a day or two), has kind of made email obsolete.
corroded@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Email is still really useful when you have a lot to say but don’t want to write a letter. If I’m catching up on the last several weeks with my parents, I’m not going to write a 10-page text. I can write a nicely formatted email and attach a few photos, though. It’s far more convenient than writing a letter and stuffing a bunch of printed photos into an envelope.
ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Exactly. The need/desire to write longer form like this may not come up as often with other more immediate means to communicate, but when it does, email’s there to serve its purpose.
Knuschberkeks@leminal.space 5 months ago
I remember when Whatsapp started taking off here in Europe. Everyone was like “you can text for free now, even send media, it all just works over the internet.” And I always said “well isn’t it just the same as email? Your smartphone can do that anyway, what do you need WA for?” and I still kinda feel like that.
Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 5 months ago
Email for business, WhatsApp for shitposts
Simple