As an alumnus of Virginia Tech's English Department, class of 2008, I left feeling proud of the strong educational community upon which our school is built. After events in recent years, that community was pulled even closer. Some, however, forget what that community means.
After graduating I was accepted into the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond, a master's program similarly founded on the belief in a strong educational community, and one that is highly collaborative. Here, we are expected to provide large amounts of research for our projects -- but our resources are limited, and how we produce said research is left to our creativity. A portion of this research includes quantitative surveys. "A-ha," I thought, "I have just graduated from a school that would surely be receptive to helping out an old friend." Sadly, I was wrong.
When the first instance came about that I was required to survey consumers in the age range of college students, I quickly found all the old listservs I was still subscribed to on my Tech account, and sent out the survey link. Obviously, I explained the situation -- that I, like them, was a student, an alumnus of Virginia Tech, and that of course taking the survey is in no way mandatory, but it would be a great help. This first survey was on the Virginia Lottery. I have since sent out two more, one on Oreos, and another specifically for men on menswear. None of them have asked questions regarding financial or marital status, race, religion, or any other borderline inappropriate inquiries, nor have any been used outside of the classroom. I have made this clear each time. Perhaps the most inappropriate question asked regarded the respondent's personal style of eating an Oreo.
Still, I ran into some trouble. Late last Sunday night, Nov. 2, I received an e-mail response from my menswear survey from the student president of a club at Virginia Tech I had been a member of for two years during my time here. It was not pleasant. Calling my request for help an "aggressive abuse of (the) listserv," he went on to say this would be the last bit of "spam" he would "tolerate." He accused me of "abusing this list for the advancement of (my) own purposes and agenda." Frankly, I was shocked. While I agree it was used for my own purposes (the advancement of thought and my continued education), I'm still a little vague on what he means by "agenda." I don't know where he got confused, but the information I gathered on cookie-eating habits and whether young men owned suits will not be used to hatch my own evil plan. My "agenda," if there is one, is merely calling on fellow Hokies to help me as I continue in higher learning. In the end, I was removed and blocked from the listserv.
Still, if that wasn't enough, another member of the same club chastised me. This young man made a mockery of my education, and sarcastically claimed that my "clutter" and I "do not deserve Virginia Tech's attention." Whether his e-mail was inherently contradictory to what he was saying is beside the point.
I would like to cite two passages:
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For somebody who thinks your predicament shouldn't be a big deal, you're making an awfully big deal. Moreover it comes across that you're pouting like a two year old because your easiest, least creative option for doing quantitative survey research is being critiqued by the audience you're soliciting. Sending listserv emails to the school you just came from isn't creative; you're scapegoating because you aren't getting what you want for putting in such poor effort. Your thesis adviser is laughing as you read this.
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Brian, certainly your case is much more reasonable than the various "I need to sublease my apartment this summer" messages that I've received from students who spammed the email list for my class (they didn't have the presence of mind to leave out the instructor). While I hesitate to say that technically your email falls into the same category, and I do understand your citations, it does seem that listservs are typically used to communicate information relevant to a certain club. Is this necessarily right? Maybe not. In any case, perhaps you should consider emailing the officers of particular clubs to see if they will alert the club to your request, or maybe even mention it at their meeting. That may be just the personal touch that is necessary to avoid nasty-gram responses, and also to motivate people to actually help you. Best of luck!
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I wonder how one gets distinguished as a "guest columnist" rather than a "letter to the editor"... ?
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Amanda: Length of the story. Longer->Guest Columnist Shorter->LTHE
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I was one of the people that received your emails. It was not a big deal to me, but I think in the future you would be better off asking permission from the president of the club, or you or the president should send ONE email to the listserv asking for volunteers to sign up to receive emails for your surveys.
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Why does every Tech graduate at the Brandcenter think they can spam everyone with a VT e-mail address?
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