Flagging in Flagstaff

Dear Flagging, I see very little value in flagging a message as low priority. If your message is so unimportant that it earns this kind of disdain even from you, why would anyone be tempted to read it? However, I can imagine situations where you might make an exception--for instance, if you work in an office where you're constantly bombarded by high-pressure e-mails that are, for that workplace, "normal" (and marked that way), you may want to assign "when you get around to it" messages a low priority.

A high-priority flag can be useful in a couple of ways. Let's suppose you work in an environment where colleagues receive metric tons of e-mail each day. And because they do, many don't read their e-mail right away--there's just too much of the stuff to sift through. Flagging your message as high priority will likely cause others to read it sooner rather than later. A high-priority flag is also appropriate in situations when you're in a panic--you need something acted on right now.

The danger of high-priority flags is in their overuse. If you assign this flag capriciously, people you routinely correspond with will learn to ignore it--and, ultimately, your messages. To avoid becoming the Correspondent Who Cried Wolf, use that flag with care.

To avoid being ignored, don't become the person who flags every message as high priority.