[ef4]

The biggest problem with this idea is that it violates people's expectations. People already know how email works. They don't expect to hit a character limit. They will simply get annoyed.

If you want to "take features away", you need to create a completely separate concept in people's minds. Twitter works because people don't think of it as "email that's limited to 140 characters". They think of it as a completely separate category.

[diego]

That is a good point. However, this already happens. How often do you email support@somewhere only to get a response that says "your email has been received, we'll process it within 24 hours?"

In some cases you'd like to have the option to pay something so that it's processed in one hour.

Also, some people don't care if you're annoyed. VCs, celebrities, etc. get tons of email that they can't read anyway. What if Lady Gaga received 30 short emails per day from fans who paid $100 (adjust the numbers until it's manageable for her) instead of 100k emails that go to /dev/null ?

[true_religion]

> What if Lady Gaga received 30 short emails per day from fans who paid $100 (adjust the numbers until it's manageable for her) instead of 100k emails that go to /dev/null ?

Fanmail is a part of being a celebrity, and managing your fans is what keeps them happy and giving you money in innumerate ways.

Asking your most fanatic to pay you more money just to email you would be insulting and might trigger backlash.

[keithpeter]

They would get (well) annoyed when the message bounces back with no prior warning. Perhaps slightly less annoyed if they could see a 'countdown'. Hence a new interface or dedicated app as suggested above.