Dear insert your name

Thanks for inviting me to join an email exchange thingy, where we’ll be able to keep in contact even if our email addresses change. The trouble is, I’m not going to sign up. Please don’t take it personally though.

You see, you’re not the first person to suggest that I join one of these things, and there’s lots of different versions of them doing exactly the same thing. Bearing in mind that I’m not planning on ever changing my address – and even if I did I’d email everyone I know and tell you all about it. And even if we lose touch somehow, and I can’t find your webpage online, I’m sure you’ll be able to find mine, and everything will be spiffy.

Even if it’s free now, how do you know your email exchange thingy will still be working in fifteen years, or how can you be sure that I will ever remember my login two decades from now? It’s a lot of hassle for no real gain – I’ve signed up to a fair few of these over the years, and it’s never been worth it. And frankly, I don’t trust any website whose busines model is based around collecting tens of thousands of email addresses and behaving completely scrupulously for longer than their venture capital will last.

But like I said, don’t take it personally.