How often do you check your email when at your computer?

@caker:

How often do you check your email when at your computer?

Hm, not quite sure how to answer this, because I use xbiff and so the moment I get an email, I am notified. I never have to open up my mail client to "check" for email, I just open it to read email that I already know that I have.

However, the moment I get notified of email by xbiff, I read it. Even if it's work email and boring stuff, I hate to leave email unread …

@caker:

How often do you check your email when at your computer?

By the way … another interesting poll would be "how often do you check the Linode support forums for new messages" … in my case that would be anywhere from 1 to 4 times per day. I just like to stay on top of what's happening at linode.com!

I'm using outlook (out of habit i think) and used to have my checking delay set to 5 minutes but i ended up reading and replying to emails all day long leaving me no actual time to concentrate on my work …

Now most accounts are set to 30 minutes except for 1 of them that is set to 10 minutes.

When I'm at my computer? Only when I first connect, when I notice in the "tail -f /var/log/sys.log" window that something's arrived for me, or when the new entries in that window scroll beyond the buffer between looks. ;-)

@bji:

However, the moment I get notified of email by xbiff, I read it. Even if it's work email and boring stuff, I hate to leave email unread …
@mastabog:

I'm using outlook (out of habit i think) and used to have my checking delay set to 5 minutes but i ended up reading and replying to emails all day long leaving me no actual time to concentrate on my work …
That was kind of the point of this poll. We used to joke about this at my previous place of employment. So much busy/paperwork, so little time… I'm about 10x more productive as a single person than when I was part of a big team -- go figure… I still have the urge to check my mail frequently, though :)

@bji:

By the way … another interesting poll would be "how often do you check the Linode support forums for new messages" … in my case that would be anywhere from 1 to 4 times per day. I just like to stay on top of what's happening at linode.com!
Go for it – I think everyone has permissiosn to create polls…

@zibeli2:

When I'm at my computer? Only when I first connect, when I notice in the "tail -f /var/log/sys.log" window that something's arrived for me, or when the new entries in that window scroll beyond the buffer between looks. ;-)
You sound like me. I tail about 5 log files.

-Chris

I try to pace myself with the email for the same reason… if I get distracted from my work for more than 15 seconds before I can finish what I'm working on (most small jobs can be 1 to 2 hours), it seems to make it take twice as long.

Maybe once or twice a day. IRC/MSN/Yahoo are my main methods of Internet conversation.