2181: Inbox

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Inbox

Title text: Rome's declaration of war against Carthage was sent from a no-reply address, so Hannibal had to cross the Alps to deliver his "UNSUBSCRIBE" response in person.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by an ANCIENT ROMAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Email differs from "snail" mail, in that it usually demands a reply. And replying to an email, may lead to another email response, thus leading to a "loop" of constant replies and responses.

Inbox Zero is a recent organizational approach to email inbox management, with the idea that an inbox should be empty or as close to empty as possible. This would involve replying to all incoming emails immediately, and then filing them away when replied to. However, as Megan mentions in the comic, this could lead to a lot of work if you receive a lot of daily emails.

The ancient Romans are one of the model historical societies, well revered for their culture and life. Megan claims that they were able to accomplish a lot because they did not have the Inbox Zero philosophy. Of course, email also did not exist at the time either.

The title text refers to Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, a famous military campaign by Hannibal against the Romans. Randall claims that Hannibal needed to invade Rome to tell them to stop sending him so many emails. The reason for this was that Rome's email was sent from a "no-reply" email address, so Hannibal had no way of replying and had to tell them in person.

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[Megan and Cueball are sitting at a desk, facing each other, each working on their laptop computers.]

Megan: Answering email is the worst. It just leads to getting more email.

Cueball: Yeah, email is a trap.

[Beat panel.]

[Megan looks up from her work on the computer.]

Megan: I bet the reason the Ancient Romans got so much done was that they had no concept of Inbox Zero.

Cueball: That explains it.

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Discussion

Key to the joke is that the Romans had (allegedly?) no concept of zero, i.e. Roman numerals cannot express 0.Mathmannix (talk) 18:19, 26 July 2019 (UTC)

Maybe, but I think this refers to the Inbox Zero methodology more. 172.68.46.209 19:12, 26 July 2019 (UTC)

It's a pun. It doesn't work without the notion that Romans had no concept of zero.

I don't see how that is remotely relevant, or how it would make the joke "work". They didn't have a concept of "Inbox Zero" because they didn't have email. But regardless of why they didn't have Inbox Zero, I don't understand what the joke is here, since if I understand correctly Inbox Zero is basically about spending as little time as possible on email. Zmatt (talk) 14:43, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

I actually find there's nothing in this comic that suggests it's referencing the idea that Romans didn't have a "zero". They didn't have the concept of Inbox Zero because they didn't have inboxes. It's a cute additive, though. NiceGuy1 (talk) 05:18, 27 July 2019 (UTC)

It's a common if fallacious trope that the ancient Romans "had no concept of zero", so it's clear to me that Randell is referencing that trope (otherwise he wouldn't have worded it so closely), more so than the obvious one that they would have no concept of inboxes in general. -boB (talk) 15:11, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I felt I should retract my statement. Like you said, the wording seems to really suggest it. I think I had difficulty seeing it because this explanation was the first time I ever heard the idea that Romans didn't have the concept of zero (which I can understand, as I've never heard a Roman numeral for Zero). NiceGuy1 (talk) 07:04, 31 July 2019 (UTC)

Since when does "email usually demands a reply"? By some statistics much to most (45-73%) of email is spam. A good chunk of other email is notifications of orders, tracking updates, forum/etc subscriptions, social media notifications, and so on -- those certainly don't require a reply (though some may require or prompt further action). Then there's all the RE:FW:RE:RE:FW:FW:RE type chain letter stuff (as differentiated from spam) and a lot of CC/BCC stuff for people being "looped in" but not needing to reply. Only a tiny portion of email (higher on work accounts) requires a reply, and even then a lot of that email itself doesn't _demand_ a reply, but rather that societal conventions of courtesy (and/or "being a team player") make non-responsiveness sometimes problematic. YMMV, but IMO the only emails that really need a reply are direct questions from supervisors/subordinates, clients, and friends/family members. Anything else is extra. Never mind the whole pedantic argument that email itself cannot demand anything as it is the message/medium rather than the sender of the message...

I would argue that Hannibal did send the unsubscribe message loud and clearly. He only didn't manage to get it through to the intended recipients.