This comes up every few years. I personally did the rant in 2000 when I was
a grad student and trying to write my thesis - and I stopped following the
group for a few years. That was kind of stupid of me since I was only
cutting myself off from a valuable resource.

There are 2 things that you can do to reduce your aggravation. 1 - get the
digest email (so you only get one or two emails a day) or 2 - stop getting
the emails and simply respond to questions on the Clearinghouse website.

My guess is that every couple of years we get a new crop of students who
find this email forum and jump right in. It isn't always easy to find the
answers to even the basic questions if you don't know how to look and/or
you're at a smaller/less technical college/university.

Maybe the forum could be split into Experienced and Newcomers threads. That
way, those of us who want to can help the clueless and others can avoid the
"annoying" questions.

My two cents... from a former ranter.

Mike

Dr. Michael H. Beggans
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head
301-744-1927
beggansmh@ih.navy.mil