Outlook Invite Spam

I don’t think this is evil enough to make it into my Internet Axis of Evil (bottom left sidebar) but I am getting totally fed up with getting outlook invite spam.

I am sure that most people that send these invites think they are doing a good thing. But they are not. Because inviting me to an event that I have no intention of attending but gets into my calendar unless I take the extra step to decline it is worse than spam. I can ignore spam. I have to go one step further to decline outlook invite spam.

And using outlook invites to start the process of scheduling something is equally annoying. I decline because the time doesn’t work for me. Then I get another. Which I have to decline again. I’d just ignore them, but then my calendar gets clogged up with meetings I don’t intend to go to.

The way to do this is to use regular email to schedule something and once its been agreed upon, send the outlook invite. Sending me one before I’ve agreed to attend a meeting is bad email etiquette.

This goes into the category of "it makes my life easier so I am going to use it even though it makes your life worse". It joins the practice of having your assistant call me and then put me on hold until you can get off the call you are on. The people who do that to me are sending a signal that their time is more important than mine. And I take notice of that. I would never do something like that. And I would never send outlook email spam either.

#VC & Technology