For example I’ll send an e-mail with 3 questions and will only get an answer to one of the questions. It’s worse when there are 2 yes/no questions with a question that is obviously not a yes/no question. Then I get a response of
Yes
back in the e-mail. So which question are they answering?
Mainly I’m asking all of you why do people insist on only answering 1 question out of an e-mail where there are multiple? Do people just not read? Are people that lazy? What is going on?
Edit at this point I’ve got the answers . Some are too lazy to actually read. Some admit they get focused on one item and forget to go back. I understand the second group. The first group yeah no excuse there.
Continuing edit: there are comments where people have tried the bullet points and they say it still doesn’t help. I might put the needed questions in red.
This. Use bullets or bold each question so the number of questions is clear before each question is fully read.
In a workplace environment, I shouldn’t have to format emails as if they’re to be read by a 12 year old.
Welcome to the workforce! (I’m assuming you’re new…)
No, just very stubborn
It’s not simply a reading comprehension thing with bullet points. If your questions require research on my end having them already structured in bullets does a few things to help with that process.
The asker’s bullet structure gives something to mimic. You can even put your answers directly below the question, so the asker can be reminded of their own questions.
The bullets also help skimming, if I need to see which item id is needed next it’s easier to do so without losing my place.
Bullet grammar structure also allows for much terser sentences. If I need to reread your question it’s easier if I don’t have to ignore a bunch of words that don’t substantively alter the meaning.
Do I need any of these? No. Could I put the questions into bullets myself for the reply? Sure. But it’s easier to spend more time and effort on answering your questions if you save me a few steps.
Sure, depending on the issue. But the main issue is that some people actually DO need those, and for those people, it’s absolutely a reading comprehension thing (which could have roots in being overworked, not caring, low attention span, poor schooling, any number of things, but the end result is poor reading comprehension).
I should not have to read emails as if they’re written by 12 years old either.
Agreed, and also a non sequitur?
Not non sequitur - Chiasmus
Yeah I had to look them up.
If you don’t care enough about the topic to take a few seconds to proofread and format your questions why would I care to decipher them? 12 year olds learn that taking the time to write a first and second draft will improve the final product.
Definitely some acceptable variation between informal chats and emails being sent to whole teams so know your audience.
Who said anything about not proofreading? My emails are perfectly legible and written in proper English. You’re equating “lack of dumbed-down easy to digest bullet points” with “sloppy, error-filled writing”. They’re two extremely different things.