How To Send Email To Don Colton
and make sure I actually see it

It seems funny to me that I would write a web page about how you can send me email. The simple answer is to address it as follows:

To: doncolton2@gmail.com

Unfortunately, like many other people, I get a lot of spam. It's just a hazard of life on today's Internet. (See also Randy Cassingham's excellent Spam Primer.) So I employ filters. If I don't respond to your email within a day, it is possible your mail got caught in my filter and was not noticed. My filtering system is pretty good, but certainly not perfect. To avoid my filters, you can use one of my special keys mentioned below.

Thanks! Don

White List: Over time, people from whom I routinely receive legitimate email end up on my special list of known friends. If you are one of those people, I probably got your mail and replied to it, so you are probably not reading this. If you recently changed your email address, your new address is probably not on this list yet.

Filtered Mail: Mail that does not match my white list or one of my special keys typically ends up in my filtered mail folder and is presumed to be spam. About once a day I check through the dozens of emails there. I glance at each author and subject line. If the line does not "speak to me" quickly and in some meaningful way, I just delete it.

Special Keys: To get my attention, you can use one of my special keys. Type the key anywhere in your subject line. (I think spammers are unlikely to catch on to this, but just in case, I may change my keys from time to time, so check back here if you have doubts.) If your mail has the special key, it will get my attention sooner and longer. But even if you don't use any of my special keys, I will still try to notice and respond to your email. This just speeds up the process and improves your chances.

Everyone is welcome to use "intj" as the special key. (INTJ is my Meyers-Briggs personality type.)