Kieran sent me this. I am sorely tempted to use it when people email me to ask, what is your telephone number, mailing address, and email? (Stop snickering; it actually happens.) But that would be rude, wouldn’t it? Please tell me, O readership.
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38 comments
December 3, 2008 at 12:58 pm
ari
Employees of the blog are barred from taking the polls, I know, so I’ll just weigh in here. That thing is awesomely awesome.
December 3, 2008 at 1:08 pm
RobinMarie
Well I think that this is indeed rude, but that is why I like it and suggest you use it.
Is there an option for that?
December 3, 2008 at 1:08 pm
ben
I voted “just right”, but it probably actually depends on the case. I’m sure that for some journalists it’s not rude enough.
December 3, 2008 at 1:09 pm
ben
Robin, I think that’s what the “just right” option means.
December 3, 2008 at 1:12 pm
RobinMarie
Ah. Good, that was my bet.
December 3, 2008 at 1:14 pm
ben
People really email to ask what your email address is?
December 3, 2008 at 1:16 pm
eric
Oh yes. Sometimes they are clever enough to say, “What is your preferred email address?”
December 3, 2008 at 1:22 pm
jim
You are, of course, lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to have a reasonably uncommon name. Those of us who share a name with someone more famous (in my case a saxophonist: while I was at Columbia, the NYT came out with a headline, “James Moody’s Back And New York’s Got Him” — I cut it out and pinned it to the entrance to my cube) cannot rely on others finding us by google. Sometimes this is good. Other times, bad.
December 3, 2008 at 1:24 pm
eric
cannot rely on others finding us by google
Fair enough. But you know, if you know you’re looking for James Moody the historian who wrote a book on the New Deal, well….
December 3, 2008 at 1:31 pm
jazzbumpa
In the spirit of scientific inquiry, I just googled “james moody + new deal” and got this.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=james+moody+%2B+new+deal&btnG=Search
Under the very first link, it says: James Moody And The Brass Figures music CD album 9.65 in stock at CD Universe, Recording information Plaza Sound Studios, New York, New York 10/1966- …
Maybe it really is a series of tubes . . .
December 3, 2008 at 1:33 pm
jazzbumpa
By the way, I voted “just right” but I’m a bit of a sniveling weasel, myself.
December 3, 2008 at 1:59 pm
washerdreyer
I’ve sent out an invitation which included “Directions: go to hopstop.com. Type in my address (it’s listed next to “Where”). Type in your address. Listen to what it says,” so I’ll go with not rude enough.
December 3, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Colin
what’s your blog’s address?
December 3, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Dance
Well, it would be just as easy and not quite so condescending to just send:
back to people. I do think people who are nearly always very findable and have public addresses for professional use can legitimately be snarky about people not bothering to google.
December 3, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Dance
Oops. That was a link that didn’t show up. Send:
http://www.google.com/search?&q=eric+rauchway
to people.
December 3, 2008 at 7:42 pm
bitchphd
I think it’s funny, but then I think when I emailed you to ask your phone # you actually just told me what your phone # was, so I don’t know how I would have felt if you’d sent me a pissy little link. Probably I would have laughed, though.
I say give it a trial run and see what people’s reactions are.
December 3, 2008 at 9:18 pm
dana
I think it’d be rude.
December 3, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Michael Turner
At first I thought jazzbumpa not very clever, and googled on
which is truly the proper way to do it, no?
But the first link is (could I make this up?) this very blog entry at EofthAW
A couple more after that one suggest that the most important James Moody in the intertubiverse is Linda Tripp’s former attorney. Oh man, that’s depressing. Jim, do you ever get calls about that? You know, like, “My editor said I should call you for a ten-years-ago-today thing about Monicagate. Can you tell me why?”
December 4, 2008 at 2:21 am
Robert Waldmann
magnifico. straordinario. In particular, because google.com redirects me to google.it so the script sneared at me in Italian. Now how do I get to the real google (google.it doesn’t have google scolare for example) ? That’s not so obvious.
December 4, 2008 at 7:29 am
jim
During the whole intern business, I used to get calls from journalists looking for Linda Tripp’s lawyer, working their way methodically through the phone book until they found him.
Never underestimate the power of dumb plodding if carried on for long enough.
December 4, 2008 at 7:42 am
jazzbumpa
Michael -
Foolish, ignorant, wrong-headed, pedestrian, shallow — sure!
But, “not very clever?!?”
Please!
December 4, 2008 at 7:43 am
cathy
Prof. Rauchway is cute – can I have his phone number?
December 4, 2008 at 8:29 am
jazzbumpa
I cleverly tried Michael’s search criteria. The 4th link “Ton Hull” brings it all together, more or less.
His November 18th entry “Jazz Prospecting” includes a review of “The James Moody and Hank Jones Quartet: Our Delight (2006 [2008], IPO).” Quote: “I’m not very familiar with Moody, but he sounds suave and polished.”
Then, the November 18th entry “End of an Epoch, Birth of Another” discusses Michael Lind’s Salon article “Obama and the Dawn of the Fourth Republic.” This includes a 72 year cyclic accordion view of American history, with the prediction we are now entering a federal government expansionist phase.
Lind’s 72 (+/-) year cycles divide roughly into half govt expansion, half small govt/libertarian contraction. He attributes the expansions to stages of technological and economic development.
Could just as easily be astrology, Elliott waves, or the gyrations of some other cosmic pendulum. But, hey I’m just a trombone player.
December 4, 2008 at 8:30 am
jazzbumpa
Ooops. That’s Tom Hull.
December 4, 2008 at 10:18 am
Michael Turner
Did I say thumbfingered, too? I never make mitakes like that,
December 4, 2008 at 10:45 am
jazzbumpa
I get yhour pint. That’s why I don’t play guitarrh.
December 4, 2008 at 11:35 am
chris y
Should be used selectively. Taking the piss out of the old, the dumb and the poor who don’t live on line is not cool. Among equals, however, it’s close to perfect (unless those equals are on an appointments committee for a job you want).
December 4, 2008 at 12:40 pm
raspberryaunt
As someone outside the academy who has occasional need to contact professors, I have a slightly different take. I routinely find people by Googling them, but I never take for granted that I can actually reach them via the contact information provided on the university webpage. I’ve had people (ones who wanted to talk to me) specifically ask me to use different contact information, or — in one case — tell me they were intentionally ignoring all e-mails to their campus account and that I should phone them instead. I’d argue for giving the benefit of the doubt to anyone who could plausibly just be checking to make sure they have a valid way to get through to you.
That said, I’m sure that some of the senders are as clueless or lazy as their actions make them seem. And I’ve been taken aback by some calls from journalists too. If I can find the answer they’re looking for in under five minutes using a publicly-accessible database, shouldn’t they be able to find it too? Especially when said answer is in an article their own newspaper published a few years ago?
December 4, 2008 at 12:45 pm
eric s.
If they haven’t learned to use google yet, they’ll just be confused and frightened by animation.
I’ve known people who would shut down their computers (fearing a virus or something similar!) if they saw that.
On the other hand, normally savvy people who are just having a Bush moment might find it amusing.
December 4, 2008 at 2:30 pm
brendalynn
I sincerely hope no one emails you to ask you for your email address ;)
equal & opposite complaint: When someone writes in an email that you can find this or that file (which they are responsible for) by Googling it. Dude, just send the URL if someone asks, or mention at least the domain name where it’s available. But I think that complaint is based on my experience of being a fervent Google-user; eg, I’ve already Googled it, and am only emailing you b/c it’s not indexed somehow.
December 4, 2008 at 3:30 pm
fourthreichisrael
I never give my e-mail address or phone number to acquaintances or strangers.
Stranger – danger.
Especially in the electronic age, even more so. People post addresses and phone numbers as well as e-mails on the net if they happen to not like your politics or for spammers who use the information to steal identities and money.
December 4, 2008 at 3:31 pm
aanteladda
Sometimes I just don’t trust what I read. I’d rather check before I invested time and effort in anything. It would be rather stupid to send a message to a dud email Id and wait a fortnight for a reply. Easier to call and check details.
Ever been interviewed by a journalist and woken up the next morning to an article that only vaguely sounds like what you told the person? As they say, when you hear two witness accounts of a traffic accident, you begin to worry about history!
okay: challenge: use google to find my blog
It does not do everything, you know. And familiarity makes it look easy for you, not everybody.
December 4, 2008 at 3:34 pm
ben
Is this it?
And would you really not trust what you read on the departmental web page for eric? At that rate there’s little reason to trust what you read in his email to you.
December 4, 2008 at 3:36 pm
びっくり
Rather oblique, no? The link did not give the information requested; it seems more like you are trying to show off your credentials. I assume that had I poked around that page, I might have found a “contact” link. Really, I don’t understand why people feel a need to be rude nowadays. Simply answering the question would not take anymore time than finding out how to send them this link and waiting for their embarrassed, hurt, or perhaps, confused response. I hope more people find ways to take the high road.
December 4, 2008 at 3:47 pm
eric
The link did not give the information requested
It did for me.
December 4, 2008 at 4:53 pm
grackle
okay: challenge: use google to find my blog
OK, second item on first Google page. It really wasn’t hard. On the other hand, is it gratifying to be rude in regard to the little exasperations of this modern life? If so, go for it.
December 4, 2008 at 6:03 pm
silbey
You know it strikes me that Eric will be dead for several weeks before he actually starts looking older than, oh, about 12.
December 5, 2008 at 4:32 pm
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