WHAT difficult e-mail?

[Bill S]

Thanks Al;

Finally somebody has found the right words to get to the point of this
situation. There is no easy system !! Whatever kind or brand of interface
someone uses the internet and e-mail systems are complex and in order to
use them and get the most out of them it is necessary to understand as
much as you can about how they work. 


On Thu, 10 Sep 1998, Al Boss wrote:

> It seems I can't turn on my computer without reading about how difficult
> our SCN e-mail is to use. 
<    <snip>
> Please, no holy wars about the superiority of Eudora to Outlook, etc.
> Pegasus to Netscape mail, text-based to GUI-based systems, etc.; that's
> not my point.  This is my point: no one was born with an innate
> knowledge of ANY e-mail system.   <snip>

There are all sorts of complicated things these days that you have to
learn to use in order to get the best results. Whether it's a VCR,
microwave, cel-phone etc. or an e-mail program eventually you have to RTFM
and practice until you are able to use it well. 

 <snip>
> E-mail programs are complex.  All of them.  They have lots of menus,
> lots of commands, lots of folder options, lots of ways to screw up.  You
> can get by knowing only three commands--read, reply, and send--or you
> can learn to sort folders, use inbox rules, signature lines, whatever
> you want.  
>              <snip>   

I think we want to get people beyond the point of just getting by. That's
a start but only a start. We shouldn't get people just barely started and
then leave them to fumble along in the dark.

                <snip>  
> The issue here is what people are used to. 
               <snip> 

and sometimes we have to get used to new things or alternative ways to do
the same things. That's what training is about. (Keyboards havn't made
pencils obsolete yet as far as I can tell.)

                  <snip>
If someone has a brilliant idea about how to sort out the new users by
experience level and ability to absorb the concepts of e-mail ( or
anything computer related for that matter) I'm sure we'd all be glad but
that doesn't seem likely.

    
> SCN is nothing if not a strange mix of extremes.  Our volunteers are
> more computer-savvy than the general public, and I imgaine our average
> users are even less computer-savvy than the population norm.  
> 
> So, yes, I agree, our e-mail can be hard to use.  But I think that any
> e-mail can be hard to use if you're not used to it, or not used to
> e-mail in general.  In the interest of empowerment, I think that's where
> we should focus our energy--accept the role of preparing our users for a
> lifetime of e-mail experiences, of which we are a part.  
> 
There has been some mention here of classes geared to a more general
approach toward e-mail and the internet. That seems like the right
direction; less emphasis on the particular bells and whistles and more on
what is to be accomplished. A bit more difficult to set up levels of
classes instead of our " one size fits all " concept but perhaps in the
long run more productive.

Al has this pointed in the right direction. There are technical decisions
to be made as far as PPP (or SLIP or SLURP) and there are questions or
direction and emphasis. They effect each other but do have to be looked at
seperately to. 


Bill S
bk846 at scn.org        


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