Time once again to ask about what you hate, tech-wise, on the Internet. In 2003, I ran a three-part series that got lots of responses (Part I, Part II, Part III) and hope you will contribute again. It will also be interesting to see how the world has changed — or not — in the past year and a half (isn’t that 10 years in Internet years?). Please e-mail me your items, starting with the sentence “I HATE…” and include specific examples in addition to your name, affiliation (if any) and contact information (just for verification purposes; it will not be shared). I will compile them for future columns. Or you can add the material in the FEEDBACK SECTION of this column.
To get us started, I am writing about something I have hated for a long, long time.
I HATE… not seeing phone numbers in e-mail messages from those looking for something. Since journalists and PR folks read this column, let me make an appeal to all of you. Please, please, please start putting a phone number in your e-mail messages, especially if you are asking the recipient to provide you with information of some kind. I am talking here to reporters who write to sources asking questions for an interview (I get asked for quotes on occasion); and to PR folks who write to journalists pitching stories (I get 10-15 pitches a day). Both kinds of messages need to have a telephone number (direct line or cell) so that the recipient can call back.
Why, in this e-mail age, you ask, would someone want to call back when asked for an e-mail interview? For a variety of reasons: he is uncomfortable putting thoughts on the subject in writing; he doesn’t think the questions can be answered as is and needs to get more background information; he doesn’t have time to sit and type out a detailed response and feels a phone call is faster; he’s holding a sleeping baby and glancing at e-mail and can’t type out elaborate answers. Yep, I have been in all those situations and I think it’s just plain rude not to include a phone number.
For a reporter receiving a PR pitch, having a phone number in the message means he can ask questions of the PR person before deciding whether to pursue the story or toss the idea away. Another thought: a cell phone or even a home phone (depending on how important the deadline is) means that the recipient can get you even if he responds after hours. In the past month, I have been able to respond to certain e-mail messages as both a source and as a reporter in the evening; those messages that might have gone unanswered otherwise.
By the way, I complained about lack of phone numbers on web pages in 2003:
I HATE… websites that don’t have easy-to-find phone numbers on the homepage. If the site’s a small one, fine, I can understand the lack of a phone number. But when I come across commercial sites — especially media sites or ones trying to sell something — that don’t have a phone number listed, I get mad. So a plea to all you webmasters out there: phone numbers please. Learn from the Poynter site: there’s a number at the bottom of EVERY page.Your turn: tell me what you hate at poynter@sree.net or on this feedback page.
A WORKSHOP FOR YOU: My Columbia weekend workshop on building a personal website (April 2 & 3, 2005)
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