Is using ALL CAPS ever acceptable in email? 12

[ParabolicTet]

A user sent me and my bosses an angry email with these words:

"I HAVE PROJECT DEADLINES!!! THIS IS PREVENTING ME FROM MEETING THEM!!"

Thankfully, the issue was something not due my fault or anything and easily fixable. It is fixed now. My question is this kind of writing ever acceptable? I find it unprofessional. The user who wrote this is fairly senior so I can't really talk "face-to-face" about it..

I think many engineers believe in the "squeaky wheel gets the oil".. This is taking it to an extreme in my opinion. Or maybe I am taking it to personally?

 

[FeX32]

UNPROFESSIONAL!

If I ever read that I loose all respect for that person.

 

[Lomarandil]

When you're conveying notes for a drawing... I put it in all caps so that it's easy to copy/paste in.

But yeah, otherwise in agreement

----
The name is a long story -- just call me Lo.

 

[GregLocock]

To answer the OP's thread title, yes. Sometimes.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[truckandbus]

I think you would find the same use of uppercase lettering if it was a hand written post it note, a dictated letter from 1973, or even in the tone of a voice mail

It conveys a sense of urgency that the receiver does not seem to comprehend

 

[Compositepro]

1) "I HAVE PROJECT DEADLINES!!! THIS IS PREVENTING ME FROM MEETING THEM!!"

Instead, try this:

2) "While I'd like to be able keep my project on track without relying on you, that is unfortunately not the current set of circumstances. Please see that X is taken care of by end of business today or advise when it will be completed. In the meantime, I'll work on pushing out my entire project schedule again."

I find the first example to be preferable. It catches the attention, which is really the whole point. The second is wishy-washy, passive aggressive, wordy, and boring enough to skip over without reading.

The unprofessional part is not the all caps. It is that (both examples) are venting anger more than communicating a message. How about:
THIS IS DELAYING THE PROJECT.

 

[HamburgerHelper]

Tenpenny,

What is it with phones? I was almost hit with a desk phone that a boss threw in his office because he couldn't get his internal lines to work properly. It wasn't like I was walking around his office. I was sitting 3 feet in front of him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.

 

[ctopher]

I wish my boss would do that! I would like a reason to see him walked out! ;-)

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks '17
ctophers home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[lacajun]

When the yelling starts, I plug my ears. ;-)

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC
NSPE-CO, Central Chapter
Dinner program:

http://nspe-co.org/events.php

 

[epoisses_]

1) "I HAVE PROJECT DEADLINES!!! THIS IS PREVENTING ME FROM MEETING THEM!!"

Instead, try this:

2) "While I'd like to be able keep my project on track without relying on you, that is unfortunately not the current set of circumstances. Please see that X is taken care of by end of business today or advise when it will be completed. In the meantime, I'll work on pushing out my entire project schedule again."

I find the first example to be preferable. It catches the attention, which is really the whole point. The second is wishy-washy, passive aggressive, wordy, and boring enough to skip over without reading.

The unprofessional part is not the all caps. It is that (both examples) are venting anger more than communicating a message. How about:
THIS IS DELAYING THE PROJECT.

Option 1 for sure. Option 2 is just tldr and another excuse for misunderstanding.

But ALLCAPS is very unprofessional. Pros vent their anger in bold.

 

[GregLocock]

Is it ever acceptable to shout in a meeting? In my career the answer is yes. I have seen people who were being spoken over finally crack and shout, to get their point across. You could argue that is the result of poor meeting discipline, but I don't live in a perfect world. If it's OK to shout then I think it can be OK to use all caps.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[zeusfaber]

We still communicate with some of our colleagues using a system that thinks it's connected to teleprinters, so lower case isn't even an option.

There's also a surprising number of people who, for whatever reason, will only see emails in plain text format. Most of the 'civilised' ways of emphasising material get lost in plain text so, if I need to emphasise a short safety point which might otherwise get lost within a long set of instructions, all-caps is my preferred medium. SHOUTING IS A GOOD THING WHEN IT STOPS PEOPLE GETTING HURT.

A.

 

[Compositepro]

I see an age/culture issue here. Those of us who grew-up before personal computers and texting are used to seeing all caps used in telegrams, Telex, hand lettering on drawings for clarity, etc. Caps did not necessarily mean shouting at all. It was often used for visual clarity when the resolution of printing and copying machines was not very high. Who remembers mimeograph machines?

 

[IRstuff]

Love the smell of mimeo in the morning!

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[zeusfaber]

...or as they were called in the UK (regardless of who made them), Gestetner machines - which inevitably gave rise to the verb "to Gestetner", with a past participle (Gestetnered?) that nobody knew how to spell.

A.

 

[drawoh]

Compositepro,

If you are printing by hand, all caps is more readable. If you hand print something, scan it and email it, all caps is acceptable.

--
JHG

 

[IRstuff]

MY RULE IS NO MORE THAN ONE SENTENCE OR PHRASE IN ALL CAPS. Any more than that makes things hard to read. It's only for emphasis. Printed material tends to reduce the emotional dynamic range and lessens the impact of a live blow-up.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[TheTick]

The real problem with all caps is that people read it in the voice of whichever parent yelled the most.

 

[moltenmetal]

Us oldies use all caps for emphasis because inserting bold or italics took too much effort. And it still does take less effort.

An entire sentence needing emphasis can usually be reduced to a few words truly needing emphasis.

I prefer all communication to be verbal, meaning either spoken OR in writing- if it's important, preferably the latter. If you put it in words, I have a hope of understanding you. It's not the people who shout at me that I have a hard time with- at least they're using words. It's the ones who expect me to understand their attempts at non-verbal communication, and get angry when I fail to understand their precise meaning, that truly drive me batty.

 

[drawoh]

moltenmetal,

I strongly prefer plain text email. Your email should be a sandbox that cannot execute hostile attachments. Your email tool should dumb.

For emphasis, I use ALL CAPS, or I place an _underscore_ on each side of the phrase.

--
JHG

 

[jari001]

If one thinks it is worth the ignominy of all caps, then it is worth a phone call or face to face to discuss an issue that is hampering you and convey the urgency with the proper amount of tone modulation and possibly body language. The all caps in your email, especially given the context, is not acceptable.