On Email

I usually have no time investigating how much of a message I received was written by a human thinking specifically of me, and how much is left to a (brainless) automaton, which spreads similar messages to how many hundreds or thousands of others. In some cases I have replied (and please keep in mind that I always use my own brain and my own time when composing my messages!), but nothing followed, suggesting that my effort got lost down some conveyor-line process.

With this in mind, please understand that I restrict myself to absolutely important and serious exchanges, and the below instructions are meant to increase your chance of getting a reply (or any other type of reaction, if you expect one) -- and not to upset or bother you and to justify that I am particularly arrogant or unpleasant.

• The email address is with the obvious character change everywhere.

• Use my name in an adequate greeting formula.

• Make absolutely evident that you're not an automaton. A good idea is to specifically refer to this page. (It's obvious that the flood will go on while no one bothers to look at this, but it's as much I can say as a non-automated entity...)

• Talk about work I am currently doing.

• If you write about a publishing project or conference, please specifically state what charges you expect me to pay.

• I cant access this email daily. Please allow in general at least a week to reply; if our exchange is not frequent, and you need a more prompt reply, kindly send an email to state (at least a week) in advance on what date you'd write, so I get prepared.

• If I have accidentally not answered after about a month, please remind me by resending your message. But please note that, the more intensively you send reminders, the more likely I'll suspect you to be (or at least to excessively deploy) a machine, and thus the less likely (or quickly) I will respond.

• It may also be the our (severe) spam checker discards your message. Avoid sending from too fancy email addresses, and (as said) write my name in your message.

• I strongly prefer you to put large files for download and not to send them as attachment. I get sometimes problems because of large folder.

• Another rule I follow is: I am not responsible if you are not responsive. That is, I do not understand myself as a reminding service when I receive no replies.

Thank you very much in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Alexander