An anonymous reader writes: Does anyone else think e-mail is completely out of control? If so, what can be done about it? Is there any way out of e-mail hell? My only hope is that e-mail will eventually collapse under its own weight. I work at an office where e-mail is the primary communication mechanism, or rather, it was. I get 100 e-mails a day, and can only get to about half that number — if I stay late an extra hour or two. The volume of e-mail is so overwhelming now that my boss is considering a permanent out of office reply telling senders to call her if it's important because it could be days before current e-mail is read. Then I come home to at least 30 new e-mails in my personal inbox. Who enjoys the thought of spending their whole life reading and responding to e-mails? The movie "You've Got Mail" was cute in its day, but will we soon see a new movie akin to "Office Space" that, rather than denouncing cubicle life, will comment on the horrors of living a life sifting, sorting, reading, and replying to endless and increasingly meaningless electronic messages?
