E-mail lists and questions asked (a whole lot of not thinking going on)

I routinely sign up for e-mail lists. After a few months I determine that the list is a waste of time and then sign off. When I determine a list has become a waste of time I don’t immediately un-sub. I just stop reading it diligently. What kind of lists are these? Mostly Oracle ERP related lists OAUG is a good example, IT Toolbox is another, or something that piques my interest like: Perl, PostgreSQL, PHP. All of these organizations offer e-mail list communities in some form or another.

Why sign up for the lists? There are several reasons. First is to learn, I never know enough. Hopefully with the more I learn, the better prepared I’ll be at making decisions or giving input to someone who is making the decision. Second, e-mail lists tend to generate less noise, are more focused and tend to stay on topic. Third, if I’m totally new to something, hopefully the questions asked on the list will help me pick up the terminology that is used. The biggest stumbling block in finding things on the web is asking the right question.

Questions and answers makeup an e-mail list and gives it its character. I’ve noticed a few things over the years. There are normal flows and cycles in all of the groups. The programming centric groups have influxes at the beginning of the school year or semester. The Oracle ERP lists have cycles of after the school year and after new fiscal budget seasons start. One thing they all seem to share is a trend in the types and styles of questions being asked.

What are these question types or styles? Two types really bother me. The first is the streaming consciousness question. I don’t need the history of why you are here posting the question. The second is the direct inference or demand for an answer, because if you do not give an answer something bad will happen to the person asking the question. These 2 types of questions and the responses that they receive tend to clutter up the mail group.

The mail groups I listed above do require you to read something. You have to ask yourself. Are they reading or trying anything at all before posting a question? Reading comprehension doesn’t appear to be a strong point anymore. Or they might comprehend everything, but lack the critical thinking skills to get through their problem. Reading comprehension and critical thinking are topics I’ll go into more detail in another post.