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Comment by SoftTalker | Hacker News Reader

Not everyone embraced it.

I still use a plain-text email client.

In case you haven't realized, you're the odd one out, today, in 2024. I don't mean this in a negative way - I just mean that you're out of what's usual.

I always wonder about these "you're in the minority" responses. Why is that an important point? Also, pretty much everybody on HN is "in the minority". We're a pretty narrow demographic compared to the general population.

It's an important point when the discussion revolves around "reactions aren't part of email culture" etc. Sorry for the "power users" but... email culture includes HTML, reactions and so on, today, in 2024.

And part of what irritates me shows up in your answer. This feeling of superiority of being in the "in-group" that seeps out.

Sometimes, in the echo chambers on the interwebs, some people might not actually realize they are the minority

Of course, but very often that's irrelevant. If someone is expressing their opinion about something, it doesn't matter at all whether or not that opinion is in the minority. It's still their opinion and as such, is as valid as any other opinion. To reply to someone expressing their opinion with "but you're in the minority" is just a way of saying "but what you think is meaningless". Which is both overly dismissive and untrue.

If someone is saying "I think this, and therefore everyone thinks this", then how common their opinion is becomes relevant.

Do you genuinely think the GP needs you to point that out to them?

I can't think of a single person I know that uses a text-only email client (and yes, I know more than one of them) who isn't what you'd call a "power user".

All of them know that most people don't use a plain-text email client, they just prefer to use one themselves.

Right. There’s no point for those „power users“ to talk about some obtuse email culture then, if they’re evidently not a part of that culture in the first place, but just referring to their particular pet peeve niche.

When someone responds to "email culture has embraced reactions" with "look at me, I'm special, I use a text-only email client," yes, it's appropriate to remind them that indeed, it's not at all the norm and in the end they're just complaining about a niche pet peeve.

Oh of course, I know that. There are few of us left, but I still look at modern email, full of fonts and images and needless copying of the entire thread on every reply, and I say "No. This is ridiculous, and I decline to participate."

The idea of "reactions" to email is, to me, silly and unnecessary.

Good for you. But not everyone is going to cater to your preferences.

Emacs?

Yes.

Though so. I do, too. high five ;)

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