4.0854 Humanist: E-mail Etiquette (2/42)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 26 Dec 90 14:44:05 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0854. Wednesday, 26 Dec 1990.
(1) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 12:12:05 EST (23 lines)
From: Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM>
Subject: E-mail etiquette
(2) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 10:06:40 EST (19 lines)
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: on repetition
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 12:12:05 EST
From: Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM>
Subject: E-mail etiquette
On 14 Dec., Dana Paramskas asked a couple of questions about etiquette.
I think a short reply to the sender of a file or answer to a question
is simple courtesy.
You say thank you when someone has helped you out face-to-face. Why not
now--especially since it has taken a bit of effort to rummage around the
computer or files and send what they want.
If you ask for info and say you will post a summary back to the list, do
it. Not to is simply selfish. Even if no one answered, tell us.
As we stumble around in this new virtual community, we will all be
asking for help sometime. Courtesy extends even further electronically.
-----------------------------------------------
Elliott Parker BITNET: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM
Journalism Dept. Internet: eparker@well.sf.ca.us
Central Michigan University Compuserve: 70701,520
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 USA UUCP: {psuvax1}!cmuvm.bitnet!3zlufur
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------28----
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 10:06:40 EST
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: on repetition
Yes, it is annoying when queries, answers, and topics are repeated in a
way that seems to add nothing to what has already been said. It is a
good idea to keep, say, the last year's worth of Humanist on some local
hard disk so as to avoid needless queries to the group as a whole. I
think we need to consider the nature of this medium, however, before we
vent spleen on the repeaters or spend significant effort on devising
means of avoiding repetition. Walter Ong points out that in cultures
whose primary means of communication is oral, repetition has a vital
function: one repeats in order that something be preserved. The
electronic seminar uses a medium that in several ways manifests what Ong
calls "orality". Perhaps, then, repetition is not so much a bug as a
feature.
Willard McCarty