Great advice...I know many people who include "this voicemail is checked at 9am, 12pm, and 4pm" or something similar in their voicemail message. It really does condition people to be more patient in waiting for your response after awhile.
Many people do not realize that: THERE ARE NO EMERGENCIES!
If it was really THAT urgent, it would be a Cop or ER Doctor making the call and NOT your coworker. it can wait. ALL OF IT CAN!
In my case... Some times when EF is down (server issues) I have one of our Mods call me to let me know (when i am sleep)... But NONE of the Mods call me out of the blue, they always schedule our calls. So when I get a call at 4AM from a Moderator in Asia, Europe, South America or Australia: I KNOW something is wrong and I need to get up and pick up the phone. Most times I end up finding the site is acting up and making my own call to wake up the server admin... This is one of only a couple of REAL emergencies in my work that will wake me up at any time. Since I have identified the true emergencies in my work, I can OWN them and rate them to be treated according to importance. The "site is down" is my one emergency where everybody and their mother gets a call, e-mail, call and another e-mail!
When EF is down, I am awake, calling, texting, Messaging and e-mailing everybody who works for the site!
Most other issues can wait till I read my e-mail at 8am for the 1st time (out of 3 times in the day that I check and respond to email).
I barely read PMs because the people who have important info to give me will schedule a call, people with important issues will e-mail me and most of the forum runs itself now with some minor overseeing by me. So PM have taken several steps back as far as importance... if any of you member have an issue with a Moderator NOT treating you fairly! the ombudsmen (Ortiz) will plead your case in your behalf. FYI- ortiz's PMs get looked at before all else.
1