# Email Read Reciepts - a poll of sorts **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 9, 2005, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174 "2005-02-09T09:49:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174/1 "2005-02-09T09:49:34Z")
What do you think of them - are they any use? Given the choice, do you allow the reciept to be sent or do you block it? Why do some people request a reciept for _every single_ email they send? Grim ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174/2 "2005-02-09T12:09:55Z")
I block them every single time, without favour. I don’t know why I am so determined to do that though. I guess I feel like I’m being checked up on or something. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174/3 "2005-02-09T12:12:36Z")
They do have a use, sometimes. When I need to make sure that an e-mail was at least delivered (whether it’s a time sensitive item, or just important enough that I need to know the person at least got it), I’ll use a read receipt. But not every e-mail needs one, so I pick and choose when I’ll request one. At work, I have Outlook set up to notify me before sending one, and most of the time I’ll deny the request. Again, when it’s something that I know the sender wants to be aware that I’ve read, then sure, I’ll let one go. Why some people request one for every e-mail, I have no idea. Maybe they’ve set it to the default and just forget about it. For those people I’ll not send a read receipt 19 times out of 20, because most of their stuff isn’t that important. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174/4 "2005-02-09T14:27:40Z")
I don’t care for them. My mother-in-law has her email program set to request each time, and I comply with hers. Seems the recent spam trend is to get a read receipt - and I have my program set to ask whether or not to send it, so I always deny. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174/5 "2005-02-09T14:38:47Z")
I always deny, without fail. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174/6 "2005-02-09T15:32:40Z")
I have my e-mail set to always request a read receipt, but only at work, where it’s important that I know if an e-mail has been read or not. At home, I don’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-read-reciepts-a-poll-of-sorts/289174/7 "2005-02-09T22:44:51Z")
I only know a couple people who do it (and for them, it’s every e-mail). I don’t get it, but if they want to know badly enough, it’s no skin off my nose to tell them.