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March 14, 2009

email 'gumption trap'

;i;oki

Robert Pirsig coined the term in his magnificent 1974 book, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

A familiar gumption trap appears above.

Oftimes when you click a "send an email" link, instead of being taken right to your mail program, with the recipient's email address up top and everything simple and familiar, you're confronted with a dispiriting page like that up top.

Filling in boxes online to send an email is a dead end.

Too bad most of the franchises crying "Internet wolf" — newspapers, magazines and their ilk — still use the box system.

Just another name for a coffin.

I'd bet 19 out of 20 people, upon encountering the boxes for your name and email address, leave instantly.

And when the Captcha pops up, well — game over.

March 14, 2009 at 02:01 PM | Permalink


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Comments

Interesting... I'm the complete opposite. I personally hate it when a 'contact us' link opens up the mail app automatically. I'll immediately turn away from that, rather than a web form. My personal email address may not always be available via the mail app on whatever computer I'm on at that moment.

Posted by: johnjohn | Mar 14, 2009 3:01:30 PM

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