Please Pay Attention

[Miss Fatale]

BG: I teach college writing online to college freshman, though many of my students are "non traditional." /BG

I actually love it when students ask me questions. I'd rather answer a million questions and help the student get/stay on track than have to grade a crummy paper. "The only stupid question yadda yadda."

But I swear I've had to start at least ten messages this past week with, "Did you read the message titled X? It says [answer to question]."

Even if all I have to do is copy and paste, I hate repeating myself. I could spend that time on answering actual questions ("Miss Fatale, I read X, but I still don't understand. Am I supposed to do A or B?") or putting together more resources or drinking rum or something.

I've also gotten a lot of "I didn't know that."

Really? Even though there are messages about it in three different places? And you signed the document explicitly stating you knew that? Yet you didn't know that?

Sometimes I dream about a class where I don't post any additional information at all, only the barest of bare minimums. The majority don't read it any way. . . . At least then these types of questions would be more legit.

[jiarby]

It's going to get worse.

[Merriweather]

But I swear I've had to start at least ten messages this past week with, "Did you read the message titled X? It says [answer to question]."

Any way you can set up a generic message to send out as reply, something like "the information you request was in the original class information package emailed to you at the beginning of semester, a copy of which you will find attached". Something you could send out with less hassles than an individual email each time?

[Jester]

I hate repeating myself. I could spend that time drinking rum.

There. Fixed it for you.

[MoonCat]

You should slip something goofy into the instructions, something like "Eleventy-leven and one mile makes six oranges"-- and give them extra credit if they ask you about it, indicating that they actually did read the instructions.

[Food Lady]

As usual, MC, you have me

[Lyse]

One of my command chiefs did something similar once to ensure we were reading the Plan of the Day - just a simple sentence inserted in the middle of a paragraph that stated the first person to ask him about liberty would get a three day liberty pass. I enjoyed my long weekend and the rest of the command was a bit more diligent after that.

Anyway you could do something like that for extra credit?

[manybellsdown]

You should slip something goofy into the instructions, something like "Eleventy-leven and one mile makes six oranges"-- and give them extra credit if they ask you about it, indicating that they actually did read the instructions.

A video game company I know does this when taking applications for in-game moderators. They stick a random sentence in the application instructions and tell you to put it in your cover letter. Easy way to weed out those people that don't pay attention to the directions.

[EricKei]

It's my understanding that several rock bands do this -- They will bury something like "a bowl full of Green M&M's (ONLY)" in there to make sure that the contract was read thoroughly. The rationale being, if the contractors skimmed over that, who's to say they didn't skim over something more important like the weight of gear that will be on stage, safety precautions, etc? If they don't have the green M&M's, the band doesn't play. On more than one occasion, iirc, one of the bands that is notorious for this agreed to play only AFTER having the set inspected to make sure it was up to par -- each time, the stage/supports/etc were not done well enough to properly support the weight of the equipment, let alone the band members with all of their gear o_O In other words, the candies were there as a safety precaution

[dragon_wings]

It's my understanding that several rock bands do this -- They will bury something like "a bowl full of Green M&M's (ONLY)" in there to make sure that the contract was read thoroughly. The rationale being, if the contractors skimmed over that, who's to say they didn't skim over something more important like the weight of gear that will be on stage, safety precautions, etc? If they don't have the green M&M's, the band doesn't play. On more than one occasion, iirc, one of the bands that is notorious for this agreed to play only AFTER having the set inspected to make sure it was up to par -- each time, the stage/supports/etc were not done well enough to properly support the weight of the equipment, let along the band members with all of their gear o_O In other words, the candies were there as a safety precaution

Doh. That makes total sense. I just figured that was an EW thing bands or singers demanded.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Doh. That makes total sense. I just figured that was an EW thing bands or singers demanded.

"I was in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). I had to find 1000 brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night..."

[dragon_wings]

"I was in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). I had to find 1000 brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night..."

Exactly.

[XCashier]

It's my understanding that several rock bands do this -- They will bury something like "a bowl full of Green M&M's (ONLY)" in there to make sure that the contract was read thoroughly....

Yes, Van Halen was famous for that, and for exactly the reasons you listed. The story in the link is a good illustration of what happens when you don't read the contract.

[Aethian]

Yes, Van Halen was famous for that, and for exactly the reasons you listed. The story in the link is a good illustration of what happens when you don't read the contract.

*laughs* that is a awesome story, 80k of damage over brown m&m's.

[dalesys]

*laughs* that is a awesome story, 80k of damage over brown m&m's.

Over not reading the contract requirements for stage strength, actually.