In my experience, people have been afraid to say too much via e-mail. It's hard for them to refute what was said if it is in black and white. In the past, I've made hard copies of e-mails that I thought would be important for future reference.

Sorry you are having to endure this. I think you did the best thing you could do, given your situation.

I don't use emails too much in my current position. Do you ever have planned meetings/conference calls or anything where you could bring up the points in an email in an open discussion for everyone to get involved?

I could see where email communication could get messy. Ugh. Sorry you are dealing with that.

Thanks much, D. and S. My specific dept. is like a very dysfunctional family where no one wants to talk about anything because no one is mature enough to admit that they are not perfect. Most people barely speak to each other so email is the main form of communication. I used to try to rise above them but it reached the point where I was just too hurt too many times.