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28 responses total.

That may have been me, I had one person write me, say "hi", and
then end the write session.

I had one write "hold on", and then not come back for ten minutes or
so (no, I didn't wait - I disconnected in about a minute after an
inquiry - but his EOF came up ten minutes later). I sent him e-mail
on write-help etiquette.

It could have been me.  Between 4 and 6 pm I got a message and the
person wouldn't respond.  WhenI checked a minute later, he had logged off.

Amazing, isn't it?  I guess this is to be expected, since we're
dealing with people who don't know how to use the system in either
the technical or social sense.

This is as good an item as any to ask, what are your approaches to
helpees? I usually open with "May I help you?", but after the question
is stated, two options are to 1) assume they don't know much, and give
a blow-by-blow answer or, 2) assume they know everything except the 
answer to *that* question. After trying both, I now use the latter.
You learn very quickly, then, what they do and don't know (and, sometimes,
what *I* don't know!). 

I base it on a number of factors.  Believe it or not, I give much
more detailed explanations to people who type in all-lower-case,
since I assume they're not as familiar with using computers.  Also
past experience, if I've helped them before.  BY and large, I assume
they know how to use Picospan (unless they say otherwise) and how to
run a Unix command.

that's interesting.  I've gotten *lots* of help requests, even though
I'm not ahelper (yet).  I type in mostly lowercase, and make lots of 
typos.  this doesn't mean I'm stupid or ignorant, just that I'm a 
lazy typist ;).  So far, most of the people that have written me for
help know next to nothing about computers, let alone pico or even
Grex in general.  So far, I assume they don't know anything, and if they do, 
they'll usually say something like, "Oh, I knew that part already"
It's also easier for me to explain things if i work up to it and
make sure the helpee understands *evry part* of what I'm telling him.

So you would assume keats is a newbie? ;-)

#7 slipped in.

It's not 100% guaranteed, of course.  >8)

Besides, brenda, you occasionally use capitals.  I'm talking about
people who don't use capitals at all.

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What's the difference (again  ?..) between  using ctrl-D and ctrl-C
to terminate?

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I have to wonder a little bit about the legitimacy of anybody whose
Grexing would be interrupted by a security guard...

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(My previous response included a paste that had a "." at a line start,
which sent Picospan crazy as the rest flowed in. Trying again in editor.)

/home/rcurl write -chello again
 cappa
Hi, cano
I help you (wait for me to respond, and then give an "o" for "over".
o
is there any other way to telnet without pying???
o
No, telnet is reserved to members, because of bandwidth limits.
o
what about merit? is there any way to get into there???
o
Not from grex, without telnet. But you can dial it direct, and get
some places on the msu-gopher (e.g., you can telnet to here, from merit).
o
i get in through msu
o
OK. What else can I help you with?
o
know the dial in direct number for columbus ohio???
o
Do I know it? No, not off hand. I'd have to "surf" on gopher to dig
it up. Shouldn't be too hard. You might be able to do it through msu.
o
how??
o
The msu-gopher menus has "other gophers". I don't know how complete it
is, since I have net access.
o
i get in throught the columbus net. could ya surf for me?
o
I'm afraid that I don't have the time. Maybe if you posted an inquiry
like that in the internet cf, someone will come up with the answer. There
are also lots of lists of I-net sites, such as Yanoff's list, and PDIAL.
o
but arent you, as a helper supposed to help me???
o
I try. I am a volunteer, lke all the helpers, and we are not "supposed"
to do anything. But we try.
o
well if you know, why cant you help me??????????????
EOF (cappa) 

I've had a rash of inquiries from help-seekers over the past couple of
days, who are in a god-awful hurry, and very "short", if not rude. Like
the above. Do I presume that these are mostly kids used to getting their
way (and without having learned civility)? Anway, its kind of annoying,
and even unpleasant. Might have to shut down mesg -h for a while. 

Sadness.  I've had more people than I can remember ask me
to give them free Internet access.  <robh thinks to himself,
"I wouldn't if I could, you little sh*t.">  It's odd, though,
that particular user has been pretty easy to deal with when
I've talked to him.

By and large, yes, rcurl, the ones who do this are teenagers.
(From my personal experience.)

And my daughter becomes a teen-ager next year....sigh.

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One of the reasons I refuse to tell help-seekers who's on
staff these days.  >8(

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Well, there's your solution, stop responding to "staff" mail.  >8)

...I hope I'm doing this right....in other words they, like I did at first,
think of grex as just another bbs. There is a bit of a strenge atitude some
teens get when calling my bbs, or others for that matter, and that is that I am
giveing my computer  and time to them....they expect to get what ever they
wan't...Oh well better stop and see if this is working.

Well I almost got it right...this will be better..... Hi I an new helper here
and have had good luck with the people I've helped so far. Now I'll start what
I finished above :). The asking for validation thing comes from bbsing. Most
bbs's don't give out access to the files and such on the first call, they have
to be validated first. On my board I give all the same acces even on the first
call. But still get people asking for *Higher* access on their first call. On a
free bbs we give out more time and the like to people that are regular
contributors to the messages and such is our only form of reward for users that
help the bbs and don't do it for leeches (people that call and download with
out uploading or  posting at all). I get some strange people (most teens) that
feel that because I run a bbs that I am giving my computer and time to
them...they get demanding as you mention here about some helpseekers...the hard
thing is I'm the only one to help them at  all but I can also delete them :).

(Your responses will be much easier to read if you press return every 80
characters, at least.  Welcome to Grex!)

Yeah, head.  Some people's computers won't wrap the latter part of a line 
around when you don't push return.  As a result, they only see a part of 
your message.  Otherwise, you seem to be doing great!

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