How I Handle Email
Monday, 8 November 1999

I get so much email that sometimes, it is simply impossible for me to deal with it all. It's only fair to those I neglect, to explain how I handle my emails and give them a better chance to get through to me. I hope to help people out as much as possible, and to have lots of creative exchanges with good people.

Sheer Volume

At times over the past year and a half, I have had 50 or more emails per day pouring in. This may not seem excessive, but often many of those messages ask for complex replies, involved instructions (how to remove this trojan or that, how to figure out what is or isn't the hostile app), and so forth. The time adds up and there's no way I can answer everyone in a timely manner.

Personal Attention

Often I have homework to do, to give someone a sensible response. It isn't unusual for me to spend a half hour or more on Web searches, examining a file someone sent, or whatever -- in order to do honor by someone's plea for help or information.

Sometimes I'll take up the torch for someone who's been abused. An example is the recent affair with Softseek, presently detailed on my front page.

As a rule, I'm not just tossing off acknowledgements or thank-you notes.

I've avoided the temptation to set up an auto-responder, which I think is rather rude; but I may succumb to it sometime because no answer at all is still more rude.

No Money

I help for free, but life itself isn't free of charge. I have to earn an income, and I do that with most of my day.

How I Prioritize

I'm afraid I'm a bit inconsistent. On the one hand, I'm fairly systematic about it. I always hope I'll somehow manage to answer all my email, and I try to keep track of unfinished business. On the other, I sometimes just refuse to deal with it, while attempting to get other things done.

As a result, I'll sometimes answer an email weeks later, and sometimes I'll neglect a more important message to deal with others that just arrived.

Overall, I never discard emails. I archive them all, and I know which ones I've answered.

Once in a while, I go on a binge, working through as much of the backlog as I can.

I never catch up.

Try Again

If you think you've fallen through the cracks (gaping canyons?) in my messaging "system," your best possible strategy is simply to email me again.

If you've sent me a file, you need not re-send it. I'll have the earlier message and its attachments. Just repeat your message, try to make the information clear and complete, and if I possibly can I will get back to you.

There Are Limits

I cannot be everyone's general-purpose personal computer guru. There isn't time. Often I must draw the line. Usually I do it silently, by simply refusing to respond.

Messages I Do Answer

• Helpful suggestions and references. I deeply appreciate the many people who have added to my knowledge. Their generosity in sharing what they know is a wonderful thing. It's a key point of my own personal philosophy that knowledge is valuable to the degree it is shared, and it should practically always be freely shared with all who would learn.
• Requests for content on my website. I appreciate knowing what interests my visitors! There is literally no end to what I could write up. Product reviews, analysis of trojans and other exploits, advice for self-defense, tutorials on the use of basic utilities... Only time limits the possibilities, but unfortunately it often limits them severely. Your input helps me decide what to do.
• Friendly hello's, words of encouragement or acknowledgement, and other responses to my prose. I really love to hear from people who like what I'm doing, it does my heart good. I always reply if the message calls for it in the least.
• Pleas for help by victims of trojans and other intrusions. Although I sometimes can't get to everyone, I try to help as much as possible. I have no idea how many people I have helped via email to find, identify and remove hostile apps, catch intruders, restore their security, and so forth; but it certainly runs into the many hundreds. I have failed to respond to dozens of people altogether, and regret it every time. If I seem to've forgotten you, ask again for the help you need, and expect me to do what I can to help as soon as I can. Bear in mind that most of my experience centers around DOS and Win9x.
• Unsolicited commercial email. I always, invariably, and without hesitation, trace every spammer and issue routine complaints to every ISP whose resources he is using to abuse people's inboxes.

Messages I Do Not Answer

• Requests for trojans, exploits and hacker tools. Yes, I have a huge collection, probably 300 trojans and hundreds of "hAx0r t0o1z." NO, I don't distribute them. Occasionally I will pass on specific items to people who identify themselves and whom I feel completely certain will use them for positive purposes.
• Requests to learn how to hack. Believe it or not, quite a number of people have asked me to make hackers out of them! Unfortunately, so far they've all lacked that Grasshopper-like serenity.
• General PC questions. If you un-installed IE or upgraded to Win98 and your PC is shot to hell, call Microsoft. They need to hear from you, and I can't really fix their crapware. If you played with the Registry and you're getting blue-screen messages, it's your problem. If you don't know how to open Notepad, don't ask me. I reserve this kind of help for my local clientele, who support me well in exchange. If you really want to take a shot, go ahead and try me. Occasionally I have a handy answer and I will lend a hand. Most often I can't take the time. Please don't be offended if I don't respond.
• Really stupid questions, such as "I read your page ___ and I don't know how to..." when the answer is clearly stated on that very page. The sender didn't really read the page, so why should I expect him to read my email? I just shrug and move on.
• Angry criticisms. Sometimes I like a good argument, but usually I ignore those (fortunately very rare) emails full of carping. I do appreciate knowing about it if I'm wrong, but I'm not here to take abuse. On the whole, I provide good information that's really helping people, and I take a lot of trouble to do it. Treat me like the good guy I am.
• If an unanswered email is a couple of months old and I still haven't managed to respond, I normally just give up on it and answer only if I get another.

Privacy

I want anyone who talks with me to have confidence in my integrity and in their own security. Please be advised that I regard all email as completely confidential by default.

I will sometimes make an exception with abusive email. It's rare, but it does happen.

I never publish an email I have been sent in confidence unless an abusive situation exists; in which case I issue a direct warning to the sender that I will expose the messages publicly if the abuse continues. Rarely, if the situation is truly extreme, I may expose seriously abusive or objectionable email without warning. But that would only be in a circumstance that clearly warrants what I consider extreme measures.

Even people who ask me to help them in illegal acts (which happens regularly in the form of requests for help with retaliatory intrusions) can expect me to voice my objections only to themselves. I feel that strongly about honoring people's trust.

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