26. Is it Crazy To Charge People To Send You Email?

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/project_syndicate/2013/02/too_much_email_a_crazy_way_to_cut_down_on_inbox_clutter.html

Slate Magazine wrote on Feb 24th, about setting price limits on sending emails. Esther Dyson, the author of the article argues that the "main question is why should anyone pay to send e-mail when they can do so for free," introduced in the sixth paragraph of the article. She started her article with questions, and how clutters add to one's own list of "to-do things." Using the pronoun "you" throughout the article, Dyson established a more personal relationship with the reader, as if she were having a conversation with him or her. The use of questions was especially effective in her purpose, which was to persuade her audience to agree with her. Not only did she "talk" to the reader through her article, but also supported her argument, and displayed her knowledge regarding the issue discussed, as evident in the many examples she used, such as "Facebook," "Twitter," "LinkedIn," "Google," "Yahoo," "Microsoft," and others.

Dyson's main purpose in writing this article was to persuade the readers to agree with her, that recipients should set prices in the emails that are sent to them. The audience seems to be email users in general, especially businessmen and other company workers who often send emails. Her stand in the issue is not clearly evident until last paragraph of the article, which makes the audience read the article until the end. Her diction was simple to understand, and she varied her sentence structures throughout her article. Long sentences were descriptive and full of supporting examples, while shorter ones were direct to the point Dyson wanted to make. Furthermore, towards the end of the article, Dyson proposed a solution when she said, "To start you can simply set your price at, say, $1, along with a list of people who can reach you for free." She further explains her solution, and how it might affect the amount of incoming emails. In the last paragraph of the article, Dyson explained how some would take advantage of this system, but soon contradicts herself to reinforce the main goal, which is to make senders consider more carefully what kinds and to whom they send emails. Overall, the rhetorical tecniques Dyson used successfully made the article effective in showing her stand, her audience, and most importantly, argue her points.