Can we please change the subject?

Or at least the subject line on the e-mail? Can we talk about one of my hot-buttons for a minute?

It is e-mail subject lines. Yes they are important, especially if you have to rely on Outlook's sorting capabilities to find something. But I have solved the finding things issue by using a product called NEO (Nelson Email Organizer) which helps me find every e-mail in a matter of seconds.

What bugs me is seeing the same e-mail subject line used on a string of 40 messages. Especially when the subject line is one that I wrote in a panic because I didn't know how to correctly read my calendar and double booked an event.

So here's the string of e-mails that might result:

Email 1 SUBJECT: "I blew it - need to change the date"

Email 2  RESPONSE:  "re:I blew it - need to change the date"  

Email 3 PERSON DEALING WITH DATES: "re:I blew it - need to change the date"  


Email 4 PERSON COPYING 47 OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE INVOLVED WITH THE EVENT:  "re:I blew it - need to change the date"   

Email 5-100 ADDRESSED TO ME FROM  OTHER PEOPLE DOING SOMETHING ON THIS PROJECT : "re:I blew it - need to change the date"   


So what I end up with in my inbox are 100 e-mails all reinforcing the fact that I am an incompetent dufus who can't figure out how to read her calendar to set up a meeting.  And now 100 people have gotten written confirmation (from my own hand) that I am a screw up unable to read a calendar. The e-mail will sit in their inbox to be forever associated with me and this event. 

Please, when you have new content to add concerning any e-mail , take the time to change the subject line accordingly. Not only will it make your e-mails easier to locate, it might also save someone's fragile ego.