I'd agree with that, as a fairly new member of this list and also a PhD student. But to be fair, it is a good idea to try and narrow your enquiry down a bit - do some searches, find out the general territory before you post. Otherwise it can seem as if a post is being made here in lieu of doing a search - I don't necessarily mean you specifically, but maybe you can see it better if you think about the difference between the questions "Does anyone have any leads on material about the internet and time?" and "I've being looking at material on the internet and time, and I've found that Mary Smith and John Jones have both written on this, also some other people from a project at XYZ university. I'm interested especially in [a particular aspect of their research] - does anyone else have any more ideas or leads?" The second question moves you into the area of engaging in the discourse, entering the conversation and raising questions, instead of simply looking for answers. This isn't meant as a criticism, just as a general comment on something I have seen here more than once. M-H On 11/12/2006, at 11:46 AM, Paul Teusner wrote:
Hey Abi,
I support Tom's comment. Please don't be discouraged from asking questions. As a fellow grad student I've found lots of support from people on this list. But sometimes typing text can sound harsher than we mean it to be.