Re: [Evolution] unsubscribe - a wider problem?(a little off-topic<g>)

[Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam opengroupware us>]

On Tue, 2010-05-25 at 07:09 -0700, Brewster Gillett wrote:
> On Tue, 2010-05-25 at 10:12 +0100, Pete Biggs wrote:
> > On Tue, 2010-05-25 at 00:41 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2010-05-15 at 11:21 -0400, Rick Stanley wrote:
> > > > To change your list options or unsubscribe, visit ...
> > > > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
> > > Read the above.
> > I think what I find surprising (and sad) is that the sig of the OP says
> > that they are "Computer System Consultants" and "Linux & Open Source
> > Specialists" - if they can't figure out how to unsubscribe from a
> > mailing list, what hope is there!
> > P.
> bg:
> I feel sorry for this guy's clients if this is indicative of his level
> of awareness. Of course the fact that someone claiming to be a Linux
> specialist is using a gmail address, rather than his own domain, is also
> a trifle off-putting :-)
> I am beginning to think, based on observing the clueless list-directed
> unsub requests, and also on several other unrelated observations over
> time, that what we may have here is a pandemic failure to read to the
> end of documents of all kinds. I'm interested in hearing whether others
> have noticed this. 

YES!  And certainly not just here.  Coworkers and I were just discussing
that this morning - about e-mails that say at the end of every message:
"This is an automated messages, DO NOT REPLY".  Guess what happens?

> A good example is the discussion of op-eds. Many people seem to be
> unaware that the essay form generally results in a summation of the
> points, and sometimes even the first integration of the elements of the
> points, in the final paragraph. So they read the first half of the 
> editorial, and conclude from this that they know what the writer was
> trying to communicate, and proceed to discuss it as if they knew all
> about it, and fall flat on their faces because they never bothered
> to finish it.
> Your thoughts?

It's hopeless.  It used to drive me crazy.  Learn to touch your inner
zen and move on.    Often times the helpless cannot be helped, not
because no one will help them, but because they are unhelpable.