I'm in the "it depends" camp. I don't necessarily feel compelled to respond to some messages at all. Others really should be answered right away because they involve something time-sensitive. I try to respond to messages that need a timely answer as soon as I can. Messages that are personal, but not time-sensitive I try to answer within three or four days if I'm at home. If I'm travelling, non-urgent answers may well wait until I'm home.
I think that expecting someone to receive your message and answer it right away in a non-work, non-business situation is often less than reasonable. You just don't know when they're going to get the message, let alone have time to respond. People sometimes go away and don't read e-mail at all for days or weeks, or they have computer problems. I sometimes get messages from people I don't personally know wanting me to help them with their computer problems for free. Some of them have the nerve to send me repeated messages demanding help if I don't answer within a few hours. Excuse me? You want my help without paying me? You'll get it when I feel like giving it and my paying clients and friends come first. I have no obligation to help strangers just because I'm knowledgable on some subjects. When I was in Australia earlier this year I had someone send me something like 6 messages, each one with a huge embedded graphic showing a screenshot of his computer problem and each one getting more demanding that I help him solve his problem. He eventually got an answer that was pretty much "cease and desist". I was mostly paying by the minute for relatively poor internet access on that trip and sometimes went multiple days with no access at all. Spending a long time downloading messages from a stranger just wasn't going to happen.
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mmmag
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Date: 2009-08-22 10:16 pm (UTC)I think that expecting someone to receive your message and answer it right away in a non-work, non-business situation is often less than reasonable. You just don't know when they're going to get the message, let alone have time to respond. People sometimes go away and don't read e-mail at all for days or weeks, or they have computer problems. I sometimes get messages from people I don't personally know wanting me to help them with their computer problems for free. Some of them have the nerve to send me repeated messages demanding help if I don't answer within a few hours. Excuse me? You want my help without paying me? You'll get it when I feel like giving it and my paying clients and friends come first. I have no obligation to help strangers just because I'm knowledgable on some subjects. When I was in Australia earlier this year I had someone send me something like 6 messages, each one with a huge embedded graphic showing a screenshot of his computer problem and each one getting more demanding that I help him solve his problem. He eventually got an answer that was pretty much "cease and desist". I was mostly paying by the minute for relatively poor internet access on that trip and sometimes went multiple days with no access at all. Spending a long time downloading messages from a stranger just wasn't going to happen.