Rethinking Traditions

A confession: I don't like signing emails. I find it stupid. You know the message is from me, after all your email client tells you that before you open it. What's the point of salutation and signing? What does, Sincerely, Cinserely tell you that you didn't already know?

Turns out there was a good reason for the signing. That's from the days of snail mail and before there was such a thing as a typewriter: the presence of a signature was the only certain way to know who wrote you a letter. I remember the days when you'd get one, and you'd turn it over to read who sent it. If I had known I would feel old just for admitting I had ever read a hand-written letter, I would have believed everything science fiction told me.

But now I write emails, and I got used to doing a lot of things that you couldn't really do with paper. For instance, I reply inline - breaking up long messages and replying to a question right beneath it. Or I make creative use of the Subject: header. Of BCC: myself to have a record of sending the message.

More often than not, I won't sign an email. It's not that I forget, and it's not that I am too lazy. It's that I find that a truly pointless activity. I will typically close my message with a friendly greeting to the family or coworkers, or a wish for something fun, but rarely sign. It's a tradition we keep on, just because we don't think about it.