Emailing Me

[Sanvean]

Increasingly, there seems to be a trend where people email my sanvean@armageddon.org account with special requests, rather than approach mud, or email me and cc mud.

The rationale behind this seems to vary.  On occasion, the person has been told no on something, and therefore they're coming to me because they think I'm going to say yes.  Other times it seems to be an end run around mud, or sometimes other staff.  

Please don't do this.  It ends up creating a lot of noise for me and leads to problems when you leave out vital information, such as the fact that you were told no.

If you have special requests, they should go to mud, not to me personally.  If you have a special character concept, that's swell, but unless it's something that you and I have previously discussed, or that I have approached you about, send it to Brixius and cc mud.  If your character died and you have a resurrection request, unless I personally swooped down and was responsible for your character's sad demise, send it to mud.  If you have a fabulous new idea for a spell, unless it is the special "Summon Sanvean" spell, send it to mud.  If you're starting a new tribe, and there's no reason why I should be associated with it, send it to mud.

Things that I don't mind seeing in my mailbox:

Emails that have to do with clans that I am involved with.  That list consists solely of bards, halflings, and the Tan Muark.
Questions about code or game features that I am -directly- responsible for.  
Questions or suggestions regarding game publicity, game history for the wiki, staff blogs, or community resources.
Responses to something I have said on the board, in my blog, at a staff meeting, etc.
Complaints that you do not feel comfortable mailing to mud, which is read by multiple people.
Personal notes from people that I know.  Personally.  Hint: if I have never met you or spoken to you outside the game, this list may not have your name on it.

As you can see, that's a pretty solid list already.  I'd really appreciate it if you don't add to it.  I don't want to seem unwelcoming or mean here, but for one thing, it ends up cluttering my mailbox with stuff where I don't know what's up with it.  For another, it seems a little rude and manipulative to me to be doing it because you think you're more likely to get a yes that way.

This is prompted by an overall, increasing trend, and not by any one specific email.  I don't know if other staff are experiencing this as well, but in all seriouslness, getting an email that will involve work regarding something in which you have no interest is the equivalent of an email that promises free! viagra! or is coming from someone in Nigeria promising untold riches.  Don't use my email as a substitute for mailing mud.  Thanks.

[Raesanos]

I seem to be getting mailed a fair number of things that are unrelated to me as well.  Please only mail raesanos@armageddon.org with things that are related to me personally.  If I respond to something you emailed to mud@armageddon.org and sign the name "Raesanos" in the reply, its not an invitation to take the discussion to my personal account.  Thanks.

[Sanvean]

Reminding people about this.  If you're not happy with the speed of mud's replies, you're better off dropping another email there than emailing me.  I am not the sole person in charge of this mud, nor do I want to be, by any stretch of the imagination.  So please don't treat me as though I'm the person you should resort to if you don't hear from mud fast enough.  Thanks.

[Sanvean]

Bumping again as a reminder.

[Raesanos]

Bumping again.  I am getting more and more stuff CCed/sent to my personal account when it has nothing to do with my personal responsibilities.  Anything that you sent to mud@armageddon.org, please continue replying to that address.

[Sanvean]

Bumping as a reminder.  While I've got your attention, be aware that like many of the staff, if you are mailing me because your mail falls into one of the categories above, that e-mail will work where PMs on this board do not.

[Sanvean]

Hey, I'm getting a lot of requests in e-mail from various clans that I'm not affiliated with asking for help.

I know we're understaffed right now and we're taking on new folks, so I'm asking for your patience with that for the moment. I CANNOT handle the RPTs for multiple clans, and I don't want to add to frustration levels by acting as though I can and then not being able to.  

I suspect what happened is that I helped one clan and the word spread, so now everyone's mailing me. I'm very sorry, but I don't have the bandwidth for this, and opening up four or five requests first thing in the morning sort of makes me feel like not logging in at all.

[Vanth]

If you have requests, the proper place for them is in the request tool, not Sanvean's inbox.