GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET (Michael E. Goldstein) (01/03/90)
Every so often I post a question to comp.sys.ibmpc or comp.sys.mac or alt.activism or etc.. I usually receive at least 1 reply, but more often I receive 20 or 25 replies. Am I supposed to say "thank you"? Do repliers want (or expect) an e-mail note of appreciation. God knows I appreciate all the help I get, (and so does my employer) but is it proper to email a thank you note? Michael Goldstein University of Maine at Presque Isle goldstn@maine.maine.edu goldstn@maine.bitnet
briang@bari.Sun.COM (Brian Gordon) (01/04/90)
In article <GOLDSTN.90003072157@MAINE.BITNET> GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET (Michael E. Goldstein) writes: > >Every so often I post a question to comp.sys.ibmpc >or comp.sys.mac or alt.activism or etc.. I usually >receive at least 1 reply, but more often I receive >20 or 25 replies. Am I supposed to say "thank you"? > >Do repliers want (or expect) an e-mail note of >appreciation. God knows I appreciate all the >help I get, (and so does my employer) but is it proper >to email a thank you note? Why wouldn't it be? Just a short "thanks for answering" doesn't take long ... +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | Brian G. Gordon briang@Corp.Sun.COM (if you trust exotic mailers) | | ...!sun!briangordon (if you route it yourself) | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) (01/04/90)
In article <GOLDSTN.90003072157@MAINE.BITNET> GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET (Michael E. Goldstein) writes:
: Do repliers want (or expect) an e-mail note of
: appreciation. God knows I appreciate all the
: help I get, (and so does my employer) but is it proper
: to email a thank you note?
E-mail thank yous are nice. Most people, including myself, get a
warm fuzzy when appreciated.
I've seen a number of "should I send e-mail when...." questions
here recently. The general answer to them is: *very* few people
don't like getting nice e-mail. Go ahead and send it. If you are
mistaken, and the person does not like getting e-mail, he'll let
you know, and you can add him to your list and then not bother
him again.
Another approach, if sending zillions of e-mail notes seems a bit
outrageous, is a short, public acknowledgement of those who
helped. (Yes, I know: some people will cry "waste of bandwidth".
Ignore them. This net could use more than a bit more of such
"waste".) Write a posting describing what you learned and in it
let the net know who contributed. From such postings, everybody
wins.
---
Bill { uunet | novavax | ankh | sunvice } !twwells!bill
bill@twwells.comandy@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andy Clews) (01/04/90)
From article <129862@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, by briang@bari.Sun.COM (Brian Gordon): >>Do repliers want (or expect) an e-mail note of >>appreciation. God knows I appreciate all the >>help I get, (and so does my employer) but is it proper >>to email a thank you note? > > Why wouldn't it be? Just a short "thanks for answering" doesn't take long ... Agreed, unless there are a lot of replies. If you've had a lot of replies it might be easier to post a Thank You message to the newsgroup from which the replies were elicited. Presumably all the respondents would see this if they read the group regularly. It is considered good manners also to include a summary of the correct answer to a query if you decide to post a Thank You to the net, so that others will benefit. I personally don't mind if I get a reply or not, but it *is* nice to be appreciated and it makes one more willing to help on other occasions. Andy -- Andy Clews, Computing Service, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QN, ENGLAND JANET: andy@syma.sussex.ac.uk BITNET: andy%syma.sussex.ac.uk@uk.ac Voice: +44 273 606755 ext.2129
packer@chrpserv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) (01/04/90)
In article <GOLDSTN.90003072157@MAINE.BITNET> GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET (Michael E. Goldstein) writes: > >Every so often I post a question to comp.sys.ibmpc >or comp.sys.mac or alt.activism or etc.. I usually >receive at least 1 reply, but more often I receive >20 or 25 replies. Am I supposed to say "thank you"? I decided, after a few weeks experience on this net, that while I like to have acknowledgment from someone to whom I have sent e-mail, I don't like to have my in-box cluttered with messages that just say "thank-you for responding." These two motives are obviously in conflict, and I decided in favor of the latter: freedom from clutter. Because I believe in the Golden Rule, I don't send messages when all I have to say is "thank you." If a respondent has clearly spent some time composing an answer to your query, though, it would clearly merit a thank-you note. Another form of thanks, when you receive many replies, would be to summarize them and post the summary to the conference in question.
datta@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu (David Datta) (01/04/90)
In article <GOLDSTN.90003072157@MAINE.BITNET> GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET (Michael E. Goldstein) writes: > >Every so often I post a question to comp.sys.ibmpc >or comp.sys.mac or alt.activism or etc.. I usually >receive at least 1 reply, but more often I receive >20 or 25 replies. Am I supposed to say "thank you"? IMHO, you should send thank you messages. When I respond through private e-mail, I like to know that my message actually got to the destination. (Within a reasonable time.) Some messages take up to a week to actually bounce back from bad addresses. Even if you don't say "Thank You", a quick "I got your message" is nice. -- -Dave datta@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu
berryh@udel.edu (John Berryhill) (01/05/90)
If you do send thank yous, be sure to specify what you are thanking that person for. It drives me nuts when I get e-mail that is a reply to a message I sent eons ago or something that has simply managed to slip my mind and I can't figure out just what it is in reference to. "Thanks for the blowjob" is much better than simply "thanks." -- John Berryhill 143 King William, Newark DE 19711
phil@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Phil Stocks) (01/19/90)
packer@chrpserv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) writes: > ... I don't send messages when >all I have to say is "thank you." courtesy is NEVER wasted. Phil.
packer@chrpserv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer) (01/19/90)
So =that's= why nobody answered my querey on editing the Subject: line!
wisner@hayes.fai.alaska.edu (Bill Wisner) (01/22/90)
phil@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Phil Stocks) writes: >courtesy is NEVER wasted. Disk space, telephone charges and man-hours are. w.