Manners when asking for information

[Terry Hull]

In article <181 at taumet.UUCP> mikel at .UUCP (Michael S. Lueke) writes:
>In article <10146 at microsoft.UUCP> bruceki at microsoft.UUCP (Bruce King) writes:
>>
>>  I've seen 5 or 10 requests in the last week that are about information that
>>I'm interested in.  In each case the person posing the question has asked for
>>email.  I'd like to see those questions get asked on the network.  
>>
>
>I completely agree with you.  I've noticed that this seems to be happenning
>more frequently the past couple of months and at times I find it totally
>frustrating.  Usually, the summary is never posted and I miss out on some
>useful information.

Yes, but there is a flip side.  That is having 100 people post the same
answer is no solution either.  USENET is busy enough without 100 people
posting the same thing.  

The only solution that I see is to send the poster mail asking for a
summary.  Many times I guage the interest in a particular topic by the
number of responses I receive.  Therefore, if I only get a single
response I usually think that no one else is interested in the topic
and do not post a summary.  If a summary is requested, I'll create one
and send it out.  

-- 
Terry Hull 
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University
Work:  terry at eecea.eece.ksu.edu, rutgers!ksuvax1!eecea!terry
Play:  terry at tah386.manhattan.ks.us, rutgers!ksuvax1!eecea!tah386!terry