At 12:07 PM 6/23/2003 +1200, Jinx wrote:

> >You did miss (e) - the vast majority who belong to a list but
>say nothing. Ever. What could they contribute ? We'll never
>know I suppose

So then, how do you know they are even there????  :-)

> >There are some people who do not acknowledge or outwardly
>appreciate the help they asked for. In which case, as altruistic
>as I am, I'd say to myself then why bother helping this person in
>the future ? Imagine what would happen in real life if no one ever
>said "Thanks" for anything.

This is true, and I agree.  However....generally speaking....when someone
asks a question on this list (or any other list for that matter) there
usually are a lot of replies.  Some more informative than others, to be
sure, and sometimes some duplications, but  usually a discerning person can
separate the wheat from the chaff.  So is a general "Thanks to everyone who
responded." sufficient?  Private off-line notes to those who were most
helpful?  How about the ones who did their best shot, but their answer was
just not very good?  A note to them that:  "Sorry, your answer was not
really a hell of a lot of help!" ?  Send a note like that to a person who
is not very sure of himself to begin with, and you guarantee he will never
try again!:-)

Bottom line: (IMHO) There are a lot of helpful people on this list, and you
are one of them.  So just because you do not get thanked each time does not
mean that there is not a LOT -- and I sincerely mean a LOT -- of
appreciation. :-)

John

>Just because it's an electronic
>interaction doesn't mean that common courtesy can be
>dispensed with. And apart from anything else, a "thank you"
>is also part of the information-sharing process, especially if it's
>accompanied by a few comments. It indicates to the responder
>and others that the help offered was useful in some way, either
>positively or negatively. Perhaps there's something that the
>responder can learn too if it didn't work. It can lead to other things
>- maybe further dialogue or a future exchange. The absence of
>"thanks" kind of puts a full stop on things eh ? Did the suggestion
>work ? Did it blow up ? Did you improve on it ?
>
>But I'm a realist. People get busy, they meant to say thanks but
>got side-tracked, might think a reply was unnecessary or would
>just clutter up the mail. Heck, I'm guilty of doing all those things
>from time to time but you try and make the effort (even just add
>a TIA to the request). It just seems to me that some don't - they
>got what they wanted and they're off. Maybe it's a cultural thing,
>I don't know (read into that what you may)
>
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