<p>How long after sending a social (not business or professional) e-mail can I reasonably expect a response? </p>
<p>I have several online pen-pals with whom I correspond regularly. Over time, some of our exchanges have grown quite serious and substantive. If at all possible, I try to respond within a day or two, especially if what I received was significant. I have a couple of friends who won’t reply for days, or even weeks, leaving me to wonder in the interim if I said something inappropriate or they misunderstood my meaning, etc. </p>
<p>Also, should I read any meaning into long lag times? </p>
<p>Any thoughts, opinions and/or experiences would be most welcome!</p>
<p>I’m terribly guilty of that…I can dash off a quick reply to something that’s not terribly important, but when I want to write a longer, thoughtful reply, I have a hard time getting to the computer with time/energy/thought collected to do so. I am trying to do better, even if it’s just to send a quick email saying “I got your note, will try to reply in more detail soon!”</p>
<p>In fact, I have a couple of those percolating right now…should get off CC and get to it! :)</p>
<p>I have email relationships with lots of friends who live far away (friends who email with me but we aren’t a circle of friends). We sometimes respond quickly, other times with long delays, other times not at all…we are all professionals and parents and get busy. And we have varying schedules and inbox overflows. It would never occur to me that any of us had to respond in a certain time and there is no rule. Now if one of us wrote the other a few times and got zero response, that would be something that would make me think something was wrong.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it, or read too much into it. It’s certainly true in my case that the more thoughtful I want my response to something to be, the more likely I am to wait to respond until I really have time to focus on it. (I know I’ve been guilty of that specifically with you in the past, among others, and hope you haven’t interpreted my prolonged silences as anything negative. I’ve resolved that in the future I’ll try my best to send something to people more quickly, indicating that I’ve gotten the email and will answer when I can.)</p>