Email read receipt requests: Are you for or against?

[MrsCrabbyTree]

There is a person in my life who is getting on my goat. Every email has one. I am an adult. I don't need monitoring for everyday emails or anything for that matter.

(A little background for context. This is a semi business relationship. Yesterday in the mail I received 3 pages of information from this person, (I don't need it or require it but in their opinion I do) then this morning there was an email with the same 3 pages attached and the dreaded read email request.)

I now consider this person rude and controlling and it's causing me to behave like a petulant child.

So guys and gals, what do you think about read receipts? AIBU?

I don't like to receive them and usually ignore the requests. On the other hand, I only use those requests if I have not received an answer after several emails on something that is time critical or otherwise important.

I would, however, never use these in a private setting.

I always click no. The people at work that use them are almost always annoying as well.

PlumsGalore Me too!!

I refuse to send receipts. I think some people have the read receipt set to default though, and just don't change it.

I disable read receipts on any mail system I use. Is there a reason why you can't do the same? They are entirely a waste of traffic.

In the above case, when I responded I might ask why they are sending duplicate mails. Or more likely I'd just delete the duplicate and ignore it as I don't allow read receipts.

I think they’re quite rude and I never send them. If something is important then ask me to confirm I’ve read and understood the email by all means, but quite often I open and read emails but don’t get round to doing anything about them until a few hours later if I’m busy. I don’t want to create unrealistic expectations that because I’ve read the email I’m going to do anything about it.

I think they are unnecessary and intrusive, but there might be circumstances, I'm thinking work, when you think someone is messing you about by saying, oh I never got that. But just sometimes.

I hate them, it's no ones business when I read their emails. I always tick the 'no' box when I get an Outlook one asking me whether I want to send the read receipt.. Just to really piss the sender off...

In my last job I would use them for cheeky fuckers who wouldn't respond to important emails that required an answer from them. I don't use them as standard though.

I hate them too, have them all turned off so I never get asked. If it's that important, phone me or come and see me in person. If you email me, I'll deal with it according to my priorities.

In my much younger days I was investigating snooping on someone else's computer while they were off at lunch and found an email with my name in the subject. That of course had a read receipt on it.

I got away with it that time though. But the email trail did enlighten me as to someone who was an absolute snake and feeding gossip back to others. So in that sense it was worth it.

Read (and delivery) receipts are an extension to the base protocol for email.

Meaning not all email servers are setup to handle them (and that means pass them on upstream).

Like emails themselves (and SMS) they're not guaranteed to get through.

I don't think there's a blanket rule.

I don't use them in my personal life. I do, however, use them on occasion for work matters - usually when I'm sending an important attachment; much the same as I would send an item recorded delivery.

I think a lot of them are just sent out automatically. Your friend might not expect you to send the read receipt anyway. I cannot see the point in read receipts, as you can still read the email without reading it. Or not read it but still send the receipt!

I use them selectively in a work setting when sending an important email and don't want to risk the recipient playing the "but I never got that email" card when something is urgent.

Very rarely use it, only in situations where I would send a letter Recorded Delivery.

Against. Also against people who resend email if you don't reply as instantaneously as they imagine their communication deserves. And people who cc all the different email addresses they have for me, as though I'll prioritise them based on some kind of intrusiveness rating. I have a person just like yours, OP, who plagues me with long, unsolicited emails and expects instant service. Pointless anyway, as I always delete the RR request.

It's not really the same as recorded mail though is it? Unless I'm understanding one incorrectly surely recorded mail just tells the sender it's been delivered ... not that it's been opened and read. The email only send the receipt if it's actually been read.

Only one person who emails me at work requests them and it does get my back up.

I always click 'don't send receipt' out of badness.

I've put "read receipt" on an email I have sent to someone in local government because she's not responding to my emails.
She initially contacted me about something I'm responsible for by default. I asked her for some further information (and asked for a breakdown of costs involved). She's sent me a scanned leaflet with no costing.
First time I emailed I had no reply. Second time (I gave her five working days), I got an out of office response, saying she was OOO until DD/MM which was the day I sent the email. Another week has passed and still no reply.
For me, it provides a clear trail that I have done my best to reach her.

They are not really rude, i used to send them, until the receipts clogged up my inbox. and one person told me she never responds.
but i admit to the one person who does send a read receipt it does get on my nerves.
Plums idea made me chuckle

In our old email program at work, you could look in your sent items and it would tell you if the message had been read. We're now on Outlook and it doesn't do that. So in certain situations I use them.

Generally they annoy me as there is no genuine reason for having them. I got a lot of these from conference organisers and marketing people with whom I have no relationship and no intention of building one.

Occasionally I get them in relation to critical or sensitive work matters - this is fine.

Hate them, it's not 2002 anymore.
They're up there with people cc in the whole dept.

It really depends. Are you someone who is inclined to pretend you didn't get something at all or deny having it yet?

My work email was set up to default to read receipts. I sent a round Robin to the whole firm and requested read receipts.... And they all bloody sent them

(it was a cakes in the kitchen type email)

I tend to use them for clients so I know an emails been read.

Don't use them internally - and refuse to send them. From experience, as soon as I've clicked on read receipt, they expect me to detail with the email straight away regardless of other priorities.

I hate them, but I had a job which entailed getting email responses from a large team scattered around the country. They were mostly rubbish at replying, and in the end I had to resort to using read receipts. I’ve never used them since, and always choose the don’t send option when I get an email with a read receipt option.