I don't even like my email address any more. I outgrew it ages ago, but I keep it because of the old sentimentality. I know that if I start using a new address, this one will go quiet and get deleted after a while. And then I will lose stuff! Like right now, I searched for 'Dewey'. For those that don't remember her, she is the inspiration behind things like the 24-Hour Read-a-thon and passed away a few years ago. In my search I found old comments and emails. (Including an email from when I volunteered as a cheerleader for the very first Read-a-thon. See? Memories!) (I totally just got distracted reading those old comments and emails...)
I think one of the fun things about having emails going back so long is that is my entire blogging history. That means that I have friendships documented as they started. (With a couple exceptions of people I knew before blogging.) If I get really sentimental I can trace back first review copies, old emails from authors, etc. And then there are all the emails from old friends mixed in. It kind of represents my life for the last 9 years.
Now, none of this is why I originally didn't delete emails. It just sort of happened... And, now I am kind of glad that I was lazy about it! (It's probably a lot that I love getting letters which this is just a new version of doing. I safe my letters, so why not save my emails!)
What are your thoughts on emails?
I'm exactly the same. I have a separate folder for blog comments, but I save them, and the search functionality has come in hand in the past. And Dewey <3 I can't imagine deleting my e-mail - so much there that's important to me.
ReplyDeleteI try to... I haven't gotten through my Yahoo mail in ages though, there's 700 emails in there, which doesn't sound too bad.. I suppose. I just went through my email that gets most of my blog/book stuff and have been keeping it to one page, but I have folders. My work email is the worst, I try to clear it out quarterly now, but it's bad still.
ReplyDeleteI made the huge mistake of neglecting my ancient hotmail account and a lot of emails from the earlier part of the last decade of my life were erased. :/ Even though I recovered the account, I've lost a lot from when my husband and I first got together (fortunately, the whole long distance relationship thing also means there is paper and letters and a notebook we used to mail to each other - and he still has his emails). I don't really like my email address either - nor does it actually represent my initials like it used to - but I wouldn't change it now for that very reason. So, good on you, wish I'd done exactly the same. :)
ReplyDeleteI got a new laptop a couple of months ago and my husband wants to destroy the hard drive on my old desktop since it has Windows XP, which won't receive anymore security updates. I have all my old emails on that machine and have slowly been re-reading them, culling out the ones I want to save and deleting the mundane messages that don't need to be saved. It's taking forever! I may finish this project by the end of 2014. Maybe. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of anal about not saving more than 50 emails in any one email account:)
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand where you're coming from. I have some emails I kept between me and a friend that documented a time in my life that was kind of a turning point for me. I've kept a lot of emails I've gotten from authors and other people because I was very excited to get them. I kind of figure the same thing that you do - if I'd gotten them in letter form I would've kept them so why not keep them in email form.
ReplyDeleteI've rarely deleted my emails - I have them sorted into folders so they aren't in the general incoming emails. I can't delete! lol I'm always afraid I'll end up wanting that one email for something. It turned out to be good when I had to go see the superintendent of my children's school because the principal and the learning support teacher were in a fight over what had happened with my daughter. I didn't please them by supporting the learning support teacher, and I had the emails to back us up.
ReplyDeleteFor book blogging friends, I have folders for them too. I'm afraid I'm kind of a pack rat when it comes to emails and keeping them! I'm kind of happy to see I'm not the only one.
I don't delete it either - even the spam! I currently have 21976 unread emails in my inbox - all spam/marketing emails that I haven't even opened. I really should delete it as I go along, but for some reason I don't :-( Good job I have a lot of storage space!
ReplyDeleteI do delete spam and junk mail, but I keep comments and all other email. It's such a treasure to be able to read those old correspondence.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever deleted blog comments from my email, apart from the really nasty ones or things like pingbacks that aren't really comments. I've switched blog emails since I started blogging, and I keep meaning to forward all the comments emails to my new address -- it just would be such an undertaking! I haven't been able to face it yet.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit anal about my email organization though I can become lax. I generally put things in folders or labels and clear out other things. I have gmail, though, and I don't think it actually deletes anything.
ReplyDeleteI do delete my blog comment emails, and now I feel like a jerk! Maybe I should start keeping them...
I keep all my personal emails, though :). I bet we could find our first email exchange if we went back...
I don't delete email either! And Dewey! We overlapped by only a few months, but she was so welcoming. I barely got to know her.
ReplyDeleteI delete some emails, but others I would like to keep. Ones from friends, always, and, like you, some from publishers. I've storage but it'll run out at some point so I delete what I don't need/want.
ReplyDeleteLove! I delete emails but not when I comes to corresponding with fellow bloggers. I still have my emails from Dewey.
ReplyDeleteI usually keep emails from people or aliens and delete the junk or newsletter that I receive
ReplyDeleteHow lovely that you have stuff like that saved to reminisce upon. I don't save all of my emails but I do have some saved from other bloggers, in regards to book tours I signed up for, etc. I find it fun to go back and see the emails I saved though (sometimes to just figure out why I saved them. LOL)
ReplyDeleteOh, girl. I delete EVERYTHING. There are a few emails I will save, like review copy requests and notifications, passwords, user names and the like. But once I respond or receive a package, it's gone. I hate cluttered inboxes. My work email is about as sparse, but I use archived folders religiously. So, everything gets moved to an archive upon resolution. I try to keep my in-box as empty as possible.
ReplyDeleteI used to use an e-mail program that saved and archived all the e-mails I wanted to save (including blog comments) on my computer. When my computer was stolen three years ago, I lost them all (never backed them up). I was so sad. I now use a web-based e-mail so I don't have to worry about that. I don't save all my e-mails anymore--not like I used to. But I save a lot of the more personal ones.
ReplyDeleteI rarely delete emails too! My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I never lose anything!! :)
ReplyDelete