=> [ lots of folks said ]

> "Tina" bad. Bad Tina.

It was clearly a form letter, but mail sent to ADSM-L subscribers probing for
interest in TSM contracting is hardly indiscriminate spam.  If she did even a
little evaluation of who to send to, who not...  well, those who yelled at her
are then dead-wrong, in addition to being rude.

When I spoked to Tina, I teased her (politely) about trying to make the form
letter seem personal.  She was very concerned about the impact of her
questions, and wanted to reach likely folks without irritating anyone.

I told her to talk to the listmaster: some lists are open to occasional,
low-key openings notifications, some lists are rabidly against it.  Clearly
our readership is too prickly for even a relatively careful, thoughtful,
polite probe.


So I leave you with two questions:

1) Why are backup admins testy this way?  Is this an overflow of the technical
   paranoia which is our stock-in-trade?

2) If a polite (if somewhat sycophantic) initial contact makes us mad, what
   kind of contact would be welcome?


Allen S. Rout