Sent from my iPhone / BlackBerry ....!
This could easily be an addition to the series of “Ben’s pet peeves”, but I suspect the response from readers on this issue could be quite polarised too – let’s see…
So my question is around the auto-signatures that more and more wireless devices seem to be coming configured with, in the email application. The “Sent from BlackBerry” sort of auto-signature has been around for a very long time now, and this is setup as default when the device is shipped. But the question is, do these auto-signatures annoy you?
I can see one side of the argument that says it lets people know you are responding whilst on the move – which is an informational note to the recipient. But I can see an equal argument that says this could be seen as showboating by the sender i.e. guess which Mobile device I’ve got (and the inferred “and you haven’t!”).
But is it either of these, or just something trivial that should be ignored? Well for me it’s more about the malignment of the traditional signature to serve another purpose. I find genuine value in peoples’ contact details, which typically have been the subject of email signatures – but I really don’t care that someone has sent their message from a particular mobile device (be it a BBerry, iPhone, or other) or not. The fact that you have replied means you read my email and are coming back to me, it’s not relevant to me whether you are ‘on-the-move’ or not!
As I said, I suspect our readers might be somewhat polarized about this issue – but either we’d love to know what you think – are email auto-signatures worthwhile, or are they a waste of precious wireless Kbytes….? I sit in the latter camp on this issue!
Ben