Unsend! New Gmail button users from sending regrettable emails

[Jefferson23]

*Maybe not a bad idea for all social media too

By Associated Press | San Francisco
Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Google is making it easier to avoid getting into trouble with a misdirected or inappropriate email.

An option to cancel the delivery of an email within 30 seconds of hitting the send button is now a standard safeguard in Google’s Gmail as part of a settings change made this week.

The “undo send” feature had previously been available for several years in Google’s experimental labs, requiring Gmail users to take extra steps to get it.

Gmail accountholders will now be able to activate the protection in Gmail’s settings. The tool delays the delivery of emails from five to 30 seconds after the send button is pressed to give users a fleeting chance to retrieve an email mistakenly sent to the wrong person or an ill-conceived communique.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/digital/2015/06/24/Google-protects-Gmail-users-from-sending-regrettable-notes.html

[malthaussen]

1. Or, you know, you could just engage your brain...

... before you put your mouth (or keyboard) in drive.

-- Mal

[Jefferson23]

2. Sure, but I wonder how many friendships lost b/c someone was too emotional

to think first. On the other hand, I appreciate when a racist/bigot sends out his clear meaning and
intent..we get a warning. A recent example is the volunteer firefighter condoning the Charleston
murders. If he did not send out that message he would still be in a position as a firefighter who
could very possibly not perform his job due to the inhabitants being African American.

[malthaussen]

3. Well, as to the first point...

... if a friendship is so volatile that it cannot withstand a hasty word, then it is perhaps not best called a "friendship." I've always liked John D. MacDonald's defintion: a friend is someone you can say any damned thing to, and he can say anything to you.

As to the second point, I also appreciate it when someone in a position of trust or authority makes an ill-advised comment which reveals his real self. Although in the particular instance of the firefighter, he probably congratulated himself for his generosity in serving all citizens regardless of his private thoughts. Police however...

-- Mal

[Jefferson23]

5. The firefighter? He may have had no authority nor ability to work alone to act on his hatred, and

and hopefully never will. Condoning murder takes one to a different status when your job
is about saving lives.

Friends can forgive, of course..I tend to think e-mails..the printed word, may leave
a bite longer than a personal confrontation/mishap.

[unblock]

4. best lesson i ever taught myself was to fill in the "to:" section *last*

type the entire message and proofread it first, and only at the end of the process, fill in the 'to:' section, double-check that, then finally click 'send'.

rather more cumbersome when doing a 'reply', or worse, 'reply-all', unfortunately. to my mind, this is a software design flaw in emailers. i should be able to type my reply first and then pull in the 'to:' and 'cc:' addresses later a la 'reply'/'reply-all'.