[aout]

Working in email right now I can tell that this data is canonical. The email age graph is probably the most interesting.

As I interpret it, most people keep some very old mails for a period of time, mostly because they use it often. This might be because they contain useful information (like a password...) or because they represent a task. If it is the latest it becomes a perpetual problem because it adds some kind of noise from this feed of info you get everyday.

In our business we tried to separate these by either saving the useful part and discarding the rest (highlight and save) or by putting the thread somewhere else (in an Important category).

For all the rest it appears it is just temporary info, updates, FYIs, etc... So we basically decided to reverse our email usage. Instead of focusing on the inbox we left it untouched but saved everything that mattered in other panels. We still have work to do to improve the usage but it seems promising. You can check it at getnimb.ly if you'd like