Email Etiquette

[SixthSt.Girl]

I was just wondering if there is a certain amount of time that someone should be expected to reply to email. An old boyfriend from high school, who I'd not talked to for years, got ahold of my email, as we attended the same university, just at different times. We've been emailing each other on and off for the past several months. We sometimes get together when he's in town, but just as friends.

 

The problem is: since he is a student, there are certain times that he is busier than others, and does not always reply to emails. For instance, he was a camp counselor for several weeks this summer, then had a break b/w that and school. He went back to school when I did, a couple weeks ago. During this break, he emailed me, I returned his email, he responded. He mentioned something in his last email about apartments - that he knew of some good apartments since I'm thinking of moving out of town instead of commuting back and forth to school, and to let him know if I was interested. I replied, yeah, I'm interested in hearing about them, and thanks. This was like two weeks ago, and he hasn't responded. This has happened before - he will be "away" for a few months, then pick up the emailing again, though will never mention anything about the last email I sent x amount of weeks or months ago. At first, I thought my email may've gotten lost, or he just got busy and forgot to respond. Sometimes I'd send a second email just in case he didn't get the first one, but he will never reply to it. It's like he dissappears, though he always ends up starting the communication again. It's kind of discouraging as I always wonder what's up - I assume that he's ok as this is a small town, our families are both still here, and I'd find out if something happened to him. I guess I treat emails like voice messages. I always try to respond within a couple days time. Maybe email has different rules? Personally, I know my inbox can get full of junk, so I take time to respond to emails before I get overloaded, and try to clean it out regularly. I think this guy's behavior isn't very nice, but he's never been the type to stand me up or not call when he says he's going to. I was just wondering what others think about this - am I being unreasonable expecting him to respond? He's always the one who starts up the emailing, so it's not like he doesn't want to talk to me, or that he's offended by something I've said. We mainly talk about casual stuff and keep it brief... Hmm... I guess if we had a closer relationship, I'd have more of a reason to be mad, but we are just friends or maybe distant friends. I'm not mad, exactly, just a little confused...

[RecordProducer]

It depends. I exchange emails with people within the time frame from a few dyas to a few months. If the friend is not close, I can send them an email once in a while. I have people to whom I write a few times a week. They always reply to my emails and I return the curtecy. I thinkit's rude to not reply, but it's not rude to not have a desire to write someone every week. It's his choice. He is trying to let you know that he is not interested in emailing you too often. You can consider him to be a not so close friend on a basis of his behavior.