Hey there! Now that we've got your attention, dear reader, let us justify the exclamation mark we just used. We're sorry if it made you spill your coffee, but we did want you to sit up. You see, we weren't calling out softly to you over there. Instead, we wanted to convey, "Drop everything else you are doing and focus on what we're trying to tell you."

And what we are trying to say is that exclamation marks are best used as judiciously as possible. They aren't meant to be thrown around like hats at graduation ceremonies in colleges. But let's first explain why we are bringing this subject up. The problem is, Gmail recently threw a curve ball at its loyal fan base by changing its interface without notice. So now, messages come with the option of automated responses, many of them with attendant exclamation marks such as in the case of "I think it's perfect!" or "Got it, thanks!"