2200 emails later...I did it!
@RawBill1 (8531)
Gold Coast, Australia
January 14, 2010 11:18pm CST
I was recently away on a trip for over 3 weeks and returned home to over 2200 unread emails in my two email inboxes. A lot of them were spam or other things that I have subscribed to over the years and were not interested in reading, but after I had sorted through my inbox and stripped away all the other stuff, I had over 200 notifications from myLot! 
I have notify turned on for all of my friends here, so I get an email each time one of you starts a discussion. I did not delete any of these and went through them one by one, replying to each discussion that I was interested in. I did not want to start any of my own discussions until I had gone through them all. Plenty of new ones came in during that time too!
I just finished the last few, finally my inbox is clear of unread emails after a week, so here is my first discussion of 2010. 
What I would like to know is if anyone else does this if they go away from the computer for a while. Do you have notify switched on for all of your friends? Or only some?
If so, would you go through them all one by one as I have done, or just delete them and concentrate on only the new discussions being made?
I have notify turned on for all of my friends here, so I get an email each time one of you starts a discussion. I did not delete any of these and went through them one by one, replying to each discussion that I was interested in. I did not want to start any of my own discussions until I had gone through them all. Plenty of new ones came in during that time too!
I just finished the last few, finally my inbox is clear of unread emails after a week, so here is my first discussion of 2010.
What I would like to know is if anyone else does this if they go away from the computer for a while. Do you have notify switched on for all of your friends? Or only some?
If so, would you go through them all one by one as I have done, or just delete them and concentrate on only the new discussions being made?4 people like this
11 responses
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
18 Jan 10
I’m relieved that I’m not the only one! I am in the midst of catching up with a ton of notifications because I too have not had that much time to be here due to the holidays and I have been doing the same thing as you, going through them all and responding. I am not planning to start any discussions until I have caught up and by the way I’m going that will be a while! I hope you enjoyed your trip, I must say 2200 emails would be a little overwhelming!
1 person likes this
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
18 Jan 10
We had my auntie and uncle visit from Venezuela for six weeks and when they left my father in law came over from Melbourne and in between all that I had Christmas shopping, Christmas, organised a New Years Eve party, had my eight year old home on school holidays and my husband off work for four weeks...Ahhh!! He's gone back to work and the kid only has two weeks left of her holidays so hopefully I'll have some of my life back and I will be able to go back to writing and MyLot! Or maybe I'll just sleep...(LOL)!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
18 Jan 10
Hi Paula, it is great to see that you share the same habits as me! 
It is a busy time of the year isn't it. I am seeing the notifications building again at the moment because I now have my mum staying with me for a week. I will have to get up early in the morning and get into it before everyone else gets up. 
I did have a great trip, thanks. We visited some really amazing parts of Australia that we had not been to before and caught up with old friends and family. I was prepared for around that many emails as last year when we did a similar trip, there were 1800 unread emails waiting for me. 
Did you go away anywhere special, or have you just been busy socialising?
It is a busy time of the year isn't it. I am seeing the notifications building again at the moment because I now have my mum staying with me for a week. I will have to get up early in the morning and get into it before everyone else gets up.
I did have a great trip, thanks. We visited some really amazing parts of Australia that we had not been to before and caught up with old friends and family. I was prepared for around that many emails as last year when we did a similar trip, there were 1800 unread emails waiting for me.
Did you go away anywhere special, or have you just been busy socialising?1 person likes this
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
27 Jan 10
My mum went home to Melbourne on Sunday and today is the kids first day back at school. Back into a normal routine after a crazy 6 weeks. It seems like this year was the year for family visits as I know a lot of people that had or still have family staying with them! 
1 person likes this
@neelianoscet (9615)
• Philippines
15 Jan 10
well, I have not switch on my notification for all of my friends here and the only things I turn on is the setting for the comments, responses and my lot digest. Because if i turn on all my friends notification it would surely clog my inbox. So far i have manage to search my friend discussion every time i log in to this sites by browsing directly in the friend tab. I have deleted past notification before and have control it a little bit, and i only reply to some who comments back and responses on my discussion which my first priority when i have a free time to do so.
1 person likes this
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
15 Jan 10
Thanks for your thoughts.
Yes it does take a lot more time when you turn on the friends discussion notifications, but now I find that since I did that, I now earn faster as I am more active and I do not have to go through the daily digest as much as a lot of those I have already commented on by the time the digest comes to me.
Yes it does take a lot more time when you turn on the friends discussion notifications, but now I find that since I did that, I now earn faster as I am more active and I do not have to go through the daily digest as much as a lot of those I have already commented on by the time the digest comes to me. @neelianoscet (9615)
• Philippines
15 Jan 10
yeah, the more friends you have to turn each you select one by one which entails a lot of patience on your part.. Though, it is fine to select only those active friends on the list for better access.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Jan 10
I did think about only selecting the active friends, but then I thought that by adding the non active ones as well, it would not make too much difference as they would not be adding much work for me.
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
27 Jan 10
I am glad you were able to finally get through them. I have them all on except one or two, that bombarded me with discussions. They were sending like 40 a day.. I try to go through all of them and respond to ones that interest me. I do not answer ones that do not.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
28 Jan 10
Thanks for your comments, it seems that you do nearly the same as me. I have all of them turned on at the moment, but there is one that starts many discussions that I do not find all that interesting so I may turn them off. No offence to them, but they are just not posting things that I find interesting.
@mysdianait (66005)
• Italy
15 Jan 10
Last year when I went back home to UK where I have no internet I had the same scenario as you when I cam back - but the number was a bit higher. I had over 5000 mails to clear
I did as you did and gradually got to them all. I have only a small number of notifiers on for my friends' started discussions but I have all the others for responses and comments and there were soooooooo many of those to catch up with, I thought that I would never manage it. I didn't delete a single one before reading it and I went and commented onall of them, just as I do always when I'm here every day.
Maybe this is why I keep putting off the date of my next trip? 
I did as you did and gradually got to them all. I have only a small number of notifiers on for my friends' started discussions but I have all the others for responses and comments and there were soooooooo many of those to catch up with, I thought that I would never manage it. I didn't delete a single one before reading it and I went and commented onall of them, just as I do always when I'm here every day.
Maybe this is why I keep putting off the date of my next trip? @mysdianait (66005)
• Italy
15 Jan 10
I find it is such fun here and opening up each notifier is like unwrapping a gift because each one is unique. Some are from friends from three years ago when I joined and some from newer ones but each one is special and I could not possibly just swipe them all into the garbage. It takes a long time, as you know, but it is oh so worth it!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
15 Jan 10
WOW, 5000! Yeah, that is almost a full time job replying to all of those. No time for any more travel!
I am glad to see that I am not the only one who has to read them all before deleting them. Awesome!
I guess this vigilance is why you have a large number next to your name and some others who have been here the same amount of time will have half that amount!
I am glad to see that I am not the only one who has to read them all before deleting them. Awesome!
I guess this vigilance is why you have a large number next to your name and some others who have been here the same amount of time will have half that amount! 1 person likes this
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
30 Jan 10
Bill.. lesson to be learned:
Never on your notifications when going on a vacation.
Wow, man...2000 over emails. I've reached the most 1000++ but 2200? Wow.....how many days did you take to finish them all. I would delete most off anyway...no time to go through all.
Wow, man...2000 over emails. I've reached the most 1000++ but 2200? Wow.....how many days did you take to finish them all. I would delete most off anyway...no time to go through all.@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
1 Feb 10
Whew, so you managed to go through them all.
I would need a slightly longer time than that. Not that I've ever crossed that 2000 barrier. LOL. It's great catching up on old comments, and you are right, Bill..it definitely boosts earnings as well. If you know the trick, which I think you know by now already, commenting helps a lot. But it's actually not purely about earnings, coming back to comments feels totally like having a conversation rather than just 1 discussion and 1 answer sort of thing. See you around, buddy.
I would need a slightly longer time than that. Not that I've ever crossed that 2000 barrier. LOL. It's great catching up on old comments, and you are right, Bill..it definitely boosts earnings as well. If you know the trick, which I think you know by now already, commenting helps a lot. But it's actually not purely about earnings, coming back to comments feels totally like having a conversation rather than just 1 discussion and 1 answer sort of thing. See you around, buddy.@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
30 Jan 10
It took just over a week to go through them all. I did delete a lot of emails, but one by one I went through every single email from myLot and responded to each discussion that I thought was interesting. It took time, but I was enjoying catching up with everything here after being away for a few weeks.
There were discussions about peoples lead up to Christmas and Happy New Year messages. It was like stepping briefly into the past. The other bonus was that it gave my earnings here a little boost to kick start the year!
There were discussions about peoples lead up to Christmas and Happy New Year messages. It was like stepping briefly into the past. The other bonus was that it gave my earnings here a little boost to kick start the year! 1 person likes this
@dawnald (85137)
• Shingle Springs, California
15 Jan 10
I only recently switched all my notifiers on, so I haven't taken a vacation since I did that. But I guess I might consider it. Or I might try to get through them all. I know I would end up deleting some, but I do that anyway if I don't think I have something to add to the discussion.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Jan 10
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Dawn.
I did delete quite a few, but no more than I normally would on any other day. I still made sure that I at least looked over them before deleting them.
There were a few discussions that I probably would have responded to at the time they were new, but as those discussions were about something that was only relevant to that particular day or week, then I decided to give them a miss and delete them.
I did delete quite a few, but no more than I normally would on any other day. I still made sure that I at least looked over them before deleting them.
There were a few discussions that I probably would have responded to at the time they were new, but as those discussions were about something that was only relevant to that particular day or week, then I decided to give them a miss and delete them. 
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Jan 10
Thanks for sharing. You only seem to get emails for two of them? That does not seem like much. Well, like you said, at least you do not get a build up like me! Keeps it simple.
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
15 Jan 10
WoW!! That is a lot of emails! I think I would give it one heck of a shot but it might take me forever to go through all of those! If there was a lot of spam..I would get rid of that right off the bat but that's a lot of emails..lol...I would probably respond to the people that had replied to my discussions first and then hit the discussion they started if at any way. Good luck.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Jan 10
Thanks for your comments Jen
I had no active discussions of my own, just lots of my friends to get through. Yep, I started with all of the spam ones and other emails from programs that were not relevant to me at the time.
I had no active discussions of my own, just lots of my friends to get through. Yep, I started with all of the spam ones and other emails from programs that were not relevant to me at the time. 
@Iriene88 (5343)
• Malaysia
15 Jan 10
Dear RawBill1,
Glad to have you back. 2200 emails is a big number!
I have not reached that level yet. However, I was rather busy last month
and my incoming mails is accumulating. I do reply some that interest me and
skip some old ones. I will response to those recent ones and I do not start
any new discussion topic till I clear my mails...LOL
I just let the notification on...
Cheers and do keep in touch!
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Jan 10
Hi Iriene, thanks for your comments.
It is great to be back and it does seem that you are going through the same situation that I just did. It is all good fun and always interesting to see what people are going through in their lives!
It is great to be back and it does seem that you are going through the same situation that I just did. It is all good fun and always interesting to see what people are going through in their lives! 
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
15 Jan 10
First of all, welcome back to MyLot! Yes, I would have done exactly what you did and trawled through all my emails, deleting the "dodgy" ones and - mainly - concentrating on the MyLot notifications. I don't know about you but I can't stand a full inbox! I've got to sort it out as soon as possible! Most of my friends have "notify on" in MyLot and I make a point of replying to discussions I am genuinely interested in. It's rather like texting. When texting was more fashionable I would reply to texts even when it wasn't really necessary, it's a courtesy thing with me, but darned tough on my fingers...all this typing lol. I enjoy it though, immensely
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Jan 10
Thanks for your comments and your welcome back!
Yeah, I hate having a full inbox too, it is like having unfinished work. I just need to get them sorted as soon as I can. I was out all day yesterday and it did not take long to fill up with myLot emails again!
Yeah, I hate having a full inbox too, it is like having unfinished work. I just need to get them sorted as soon as I can. I was out all day yesterday and it did not take long to fill up with myLot emails again! 
@hannanable78 (437)
• Philippines
15 Jan 10
I've got tons of emails too! And most of them are also spam mails. But I don't really delete them all at once, because i thought i might find them useful or informative eventually, but then time passes and it rots unopened in my email. Haha.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
17 Jan 10
Thanks for sharing. My wife does the same as you. She has thousands of unread emails in her inbox. She will never get to them all.
She uses Gmail, as I do as my personal account. (I use inbox.com for my myLot stuff)
With both my accounts I like to open the email and then if I think it may be of use to me at a later date, then I star it so I keep it separate from the unread ones. I then know that I only have to search through a small amount of starred emails to find the one that I am looking for.
She uses Gmail, as I do as my personal account. (I use inbox.com for my myLot stuff)
With both my accounts I like to open the email and then if I think it may be of use to me at a later date, then I star it so I keep it separate from the unread ones. I then know that I only have to search through a small amount of starred emails to find the one that I am looking for. 