Yesterday I got a complaint from a 2nd person who had sent me an email and
was pissed it wasn't published.  Luckily this engineer had phoned me,
because I got to give him a very secret peak into my secret email world.

Here's the 2 bits of hard earned wisdom I shared with him.

The first and most import is the Internet is NOT perfect.  Just because you
THINK you sent me and email, it does NOT mean I got it.  Stuff gets lost all
the time on computers.  Sometimes mail never leaves your outbox for some
unknown reason.  Sometimes evil email eating elves eat your email before it
ever gets to me.  And sometimes bad things happen to good emails.  So if I
haven't published your expose on that horrible IC Compiler bug which took you
2 months to work around, PLEASE resend it to me again.  The Internet is NOT
perfect.  Things get lost.

Speaking of imperfect, the 2nd pearl of hard earned wisdom I must beg you to
please heed is if-you-want-a-human-to-read-your-email,-use-a-human-Subject.
Literally at any given moment, I receive on average 300 to 500 emails a day.
The vast, vast majority of this is spam.

Want to play a fun game?  Here's a typical sample of 100 letters in my inbox;
tell me which letters are from real people!  (BTW, I have to "play" this game
at least 2 or 3 times a day... if I don't, the backlog is overwhelming.)

    Subject: I have job for you
    Subject: introduction
    Subject: report
    Subject: hi, it's me
    Subject: Doc_tors and Celebrities endorse An+atrim
    Subject: help
    Subject: good viagra
    Subject: What IS 0EM Software And Why D0 You Care?
    Subject: Re: letter
    Subject: info
    Subject: PAY NOTHING FOR AN APPLE POWERBOOK
    Subject: hello
    Subject: Fwd: more
    Subject:
    Subject: Re:
    Subject: hi it's Isaac
    Subject: Cell Phones at no cost- get the SLVR and PEBL! 
    Subject: Fwd: Password
    Subject: Any med for your girl to be happy!
    Subject: phone
    Subject: hi
    Subject: replica Watches! Rolex!
    Subject: About TetraMAX
    Subject: Fwd: DEAL
    Subject: private
    Subject: hello
    Subject: india bride for you!
    Subject: letter
    Subject: your account hacked
    Subject: 
    Subject: Ebay Training Course
    Subject: here's the report
    Subject: Reporter Uncovers Fitness Secret from South America
    Subject: Please help me out
    Subject: QUESTION
    Subject: private
    Subject: Re: !
    Subject: Anon
    Subject: Verisity/Axis emulator review
    Subject: Alliant Small Business
    Subject: Cruise Hawaii
    Subject: Delays in Writing a Proposal are the Norm
    Subject: status report
    Subject: letter for you
    Subject: my thoughts
    Subject: Trust
    Subject: We cure any disease!
    Subject: notice
    Subject: hi, it's me
    Subject: high school
    Subject: passwd
    Subject: Ride home a Harley Fat Boy
    Subject: loose weight easy
    Subject: Re: download
    Subject: hi it's Mark
    Subject: Formality in a Cadence or Magma flow
    Subject: report
    Subject: URGENT
    Subject: big bucks
    Subject: :)
    Subject: Dr. Betty has sent you a photo from Vacation
    Subject: Your first step in getting a grant
    Subject: reply
    Subject: hi
    Subject: Ephedra is Back - Get It While You Can 
    Subject: jcooley read me!
    Subject: On wellington he thoroughbred
    Subject: question
    Subject: No forms all orders filled
    Subject: letter
    Subject: my reply
    Subject: We cure any disease!
    Subject: i love you
    Subject: Increase your Penis Size 6
    Subject: gay 9/11 conspiracy
    Subject: herbal Viooxx
    Subject: All meds at low price
    Subject: your Citibank account closed
    Subject: Re: ESNUG 458 #2 - Brett is wrong
    Subject: Are you ready to meet someone new this week?
    Subject: hi, it's Ralph
    Subject: Bill said we should talk
    Subject: make her happy!
    Subject: Re: jcooley
    Subject: Full of health? Then don't click!
    Subject: Your poem could win $10,000
    Subject: report data
    Subject: Hey dude good news for you
    Subject: Re: hot rumor
    Subject: Re: information
    Subject: John, I need help on PrimeTime 2006.06
    Subject: No point wasting time
    Subject: urgent!
    Subject: Personalized Christmas Ornaments
    Subject: virus warning
    Subject: For quick marriage click here!
    Subject: letter
    Subject: Fwd: ?
    Subject: business
    Subject: important for tomorrow

If you were like me you only found 5 "real" letters:

    Subject: About TetraMAX
    Subject: Verisity/Axis emulator review
    Subject: Formality in a Cadence or Magma flow
    Subject: Re: ESNUG 458 #2 - Brett is wrong
    Subject: John, I need help on PrimeTime 2006.06

and you'll understand why I deleted the other 95 letters because they were
spam, phishing, viruses or worms.  But not to worry, though, wait 2 hours
and 100 more new mostly spam emails will be there waiting for me.  :(

So if you want me to actually find & read any email you send me, PLEASE put
some human topic in the Subject line with real EDA keywords (like Cadence,
Blast Fusion, Synopsys, DAC, PrimeTime, ATPG, Bluespec, ModelSim, or even a
simple "EDA") or some John keywords (like DeepChip, ESNUG, Wiretap, Poor
Farm, or even just adding a "John") that's descriptive of what's in your
letter.  Vague or generic "Subject: letter" or "Subject: help" just don't
cut it!  They're lost in the sea of spam.  Whereas emails with:

    Subject: John, our Oasis vs. GDSII benchmarks
    Subject: dangerous bug in Apache RedHawk
    Subject: help -- TSMC can't fab our chips!
    Subject: John, on outsourcing engineer jobs to India
    Subject: rumor ClearShape to acquire Aprio

really, really stick out as genuine human-written EDA user letters!  Thanks!

P.S. And did I forget to remind you to resend anything I might have missed?