Espresso Today with Email Signatures

Making of an Espresso
Water between 88 and 92ºC. (190-197ºF.) is forced under 8 - 10 Bar (atmospheres) of pressure through 6- 9 grams of finely ground coffee so that 1 to 2 fluid oz. of brew are delivered into a small cup in 18 - 25 seconds. Espresso is usually served in a "demitasse". Demitasse means "half cup" in French and generally has the capacity of holding 3 oz. of liquid.

Espresso is what one needs when you have to break your thoughts on even "seemingly simple things". Today was a day when I had strained too much about "Email Signatures". Why is there so much of noise around this? Does it really make an impact as it claims to? Is it really significant to put a great deal of thought into it?

I have seen companies having standards for the "Email Signatures", describing the font type and size, contents of signature etc. On the other hand, some of the companies have horribly long signatures, at times even more than the content of the mail.

Going beyond, my thought runs to how is this used as a effective marketing tool. It is used for marketing purposes only during the first two interactions with a new company or an individual. Within these 2 interactions, you have either moved ahead that "email signature" is no more a marketing tool, but just an addition in the mail or your interaction has stopped/deferred.

So with this, does it really make sense to define standards for signatures? On one hand, I am a big fan of setting standards; yet to be convinced on this one item.

For sure, I hate all those fancy one-liners and graphics that are sent by various employees as part of their signatures. What are they trying to convey by this? I understand if one has it as part of their private mails, (even I have one) but appending it to official mails, according to me is highly offensive and disgusting.

After having thought so much on this simple item, don't you think I need two shots of Espresso?!!!