我发过很多email,也收到过很多email,真没收到过email一次问几十个问题的,所以有点吃惊
而且要是不认识的,就更有点唐突了。就算认识的同事,我要问问题之前,也都要先说点什么how are you,hope you have a good summer等等,然后才问个那么一两个问题,如果有follow up的下次再说
像这个过去20年用苍蝇研究基因进化的法国学者,转行病毒朔源,然后就一次发几十个问题,我觉得是唐突了,毕竟她这种业余专家可能有很多,这方面真正的专家不一定有空理睬,主要是从demand和supply的角度出发
我强烈同意你说的如果第一次发问的人如果几十个问题,特别其中包含争议性问题,直接spam list. 这跟谁发email没有关系。 但这只是我个人观点,而不是道德绑架别人也要这样干,那些喜欢回email的完全可以耐心回复。
必须清楚礼貌和修养是A two-way street,提问的人是ask a favor,回复同行email是出于courtesy and good intention, not a responsibility. 如果一个人问太多问题,占用别人时间,不是回答者不回答没有礼貌,而是发问的人没有礼貌。
那些不是凭想象,真正参加过会议的,不管是poster session还是spotlight talk, 如果有人对作者提出太多问题,占用别人提问时间,或者提出none reasonable问题,常常会被主持者打断。我自己在参加会议的前一天都仔细读那些感兴趣的文章,然后每个文章最多列出3个问题,如果有很多人等着发问,我最多问一个问题。
我们移民加拿大,很多问题看看别人怎么说的对本地化有好处:
Answer (1 of 4): Not at all - and there are plenty of great reasons to do so. For instance, when I was working on my Master’s Thesis, I stumbled across a paper that had a statement in support of my findings that was completely uncited, and had no direct supporting evidence. I contacted the auth...
www.quora.com
If someone wants me to explain the paper to them…. I’m going to want to see that the person has gone to significant lengths to understand the problem on their own, and they should be asking a specific, focused question. I do want my work to be understood, but I’m not your PhD advisor.
I will warn you - while the act of contacting an author isn’t rude by itself, wasting people’s time certainly is. If your question is about something that could be easily answered by just using Google, or it’s something that anyone with experience in the field could tell you, or you’re just planning to pointlessly criticize their work, then it’s probably rude to contact the author specifically.
The big things are that I first try to find an answer myself, I try to keep the questions as short as possible, I’m polite, and I fully understand that I’m asking a favor. And most of the time the other person replies quickly and with far more help than I’d requested.