Everyone agrees that we spend too much of our lives e-mailing. Everyone agrees that the answer is to write fewer, shorter, clearer messages. Everyone has known this for years. Yet instead of getting better, the problem goes on getting worse.

Earlier this month, Chris Anderson, “curator” of the TED conferences, gave a call to arms on his blog. What we need, he said, is an e-mail charter, and then we’ll get our lives back. He provided 16 principles and invited the crowd to comment. On the TED website, on Twitter and on Facebook the crowd roared its approval: Love it! Great stuff! Awesome post!! Genius!

Some of Mr Anderson’s principles strike me as if not exactly the work of a genius, then at least the work of a perfectly sensible person. Principle #1 says respect the recipient’s time – which is hard to argue with. Other principles include: don’t e-mail when angry; don’t e-mail in capital letters; don’t copy people unless necessary; don’t have subject lines that say “re:re:re” or “Hello from me!”.