Re: How to handle personal email ?

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Nathan Mates (nathan@visi.com)
Mon, 2 Feb 1998 21:08:26 -0600 (CST)


> > Is looking over a table of
> >contents and/or using the handy search engine on my web pages frankly
> >too much to expect of folks? Right now, I'd have to say 'yes', and the
> >problem's gonna just get worse.

> Yes, it probably is. I think part of it has to do with the fact that we're
> largely limited to straight ascii text if we post the FAQ to the
> newsgroups.

Problem: my web site sure isn't straight ascii text-- html tables
of contents, search capabilities listed, etc. And most of the people
who ask via email explicitly mention they were at my web site. It's
not just people not liking "ascii" (and html adds no content, only
faster links around)-- they're flat out refusing to use their brains
to read a table of contents right in front of them.

And no, I don't think fancy graphics or a web plugin that reaches
out of the screen saying "READ ME BEFORE EMAILING" would help if their
brains are hardwired to expect everything handed to them on a silver
platter. That's something that used not to be present in the net, but
now is, to everyone's detriment.

Nathan Mates

-- 
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/      <*>
# What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
# Shun wishful thinking, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
# think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? -R.A. Heinlein