Some people may want to know how I manage my contacts. First, if I don’t know your full name, you are not in my contacts. This doesn’t matter how long we communicated. If I don’t know your full name, you are not in my contacts. This is because I don’t want 3 Janes, and have to figure out which Jane I need to reach. It’s nothing personal, just want to keep my contacts in an orderly manner.
Next, if I hadn’t heard from you in 3 months, I will mark you for deletion. You aren’t deleted immediately, but you are still marked so I don’t have to sift through my contacts for people I no longer hear from. In January, April, July, and October – all contacts marked for deletion are deleted. This is why marking them is so important. I go to my Google Contacts, select the Delete group, and then delete everyone in that group. This will mean that you have 3 months to reach out to me. Also, if I send you a message, or make a call, and I don’t get a response back, the time frame is based on the last time we communicated, and not the last time I reached out to you.
As for my contacts, I have the full name, and either an email address and/or telephone number. I will always communicate with you in a means you prefer. This could be voice calls, IM services, or email. For those that I only have a name and a postal address will not get added into my contacts. This is because there is a significant delay in replies – sometimes more than a month. When I communicate via postal mail only, I have an envelope file with their address on it. When I need to send them a letter, I just go to their folder, open the envelope file, and print the envelope. Since these postal only contacts are not taking up my phone contacts, and just files on the computer, I am OK with keeping letters even if it has been months since I heard from that person.