Trigger the Terrible

Tryg Helseth trygve at maroon.tc.umn.edu
Tue May 3 04:39:54 CEST 1994


HARRY:

>Tryg said a while ago:

>> When I first started posting messages, I noticed that some regulars were
>> rather quick to jump on me when I said something in error.  These same
>> folks would basically ignore anything else I had to say.  So if you
>> want a response, just bait your message with a few boo boo's.  (Bad
>> breath is better than no breath...)
> 
>I regard myself a "regular" and I couldn't remember any of this. So I re-read
>some of the old digests where you came in. It appears to me the only 
>"error" we corrected was the missing letters in your signature. But only after
>10 of your letters we mentioned that.

You know, I wasn't even thinking about that...I'm suprised you let it go so 
long... :)

>Most of your questions were answered elaborately (even when we discussed the
>matter before), so I can't figure out why you have the impression that we
>"ignored anything else you said".

I went back and re-read that post I quoted.  Nowhere in that message did 
I say that my questions went unanswered.  In fact, I think that is one of 
the real strengths of this mail-list is that you CAN get answers to 
questions that you won't get elsewhere.

In passage quoted above, I was referring to some specific incidents I 
remembered at the time; re-reading that now it seems I overstated the 
case.  I was thinking of when I had entered some lengthy replies to 
questions others had asked.  On several occasions I did not get any 
acknowledgement of that answer from the person who asked the question. 
Some of those answers required a bit of effort and some research on my 
part.  (I can think of two of these incidents off hand--I'll leave it to 
you, Harry, to search the archives to figure out what they are...:) )  Ok, 
maybe my expectations are out of whack!  Just because I try to thank people 
who answer my questions, why should I expect the same in return?

>Apparently, sometimes e-mail gives you a wrong impression of the intentions
>of the sender. But always think positive. If a mailer seems rude, blame it
>on his/her problems with the English language, or on the fact that you can't
>express everything by e-mail.

I do agree with that.  I do try to ignore what appears to be rudeness from 
a mailer if it happens once or twice; after that, however, I start to 
think that maybe it is rudeness.  When it coincidentally happens from more 
that one person at the same time then I really get paranoid!

-Trigger the Terrible



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