[lug] Do you guys get random questions in email?

[D. Stimits]

Peter Hutnick wrote:
> I'm just looking for a sanity check here.
> 
> Every couple-few months or so I get some poorly articulated question in
> email from someone I never heard of (AFAIR never the same someone twice).
> 
> It weirds me out a little and I'm hoping that I'm not the only one.  The
> most recent example follows.  (Note that I don't know what that code is .
> .. . PHP?  I don't know PHP.)

I get several per month, but most mention having seen my email from a 
google or other search, where I had been either asking about something 
related, or answering something related.

> 
> As an aside, I propose that we (users of the internet) just do away with
> subject lines.  They agravate me far more than they provide any useful
> information.  "href add in"  What the hell does that mean?  It is
> meaningful once you have read the message, but by then what does it
> matter?  Arg!

I don't necessarily use subject lines to identify the actual topic, but 
I do use it to identify a single thread (my email reader is set to 
display threads like a tree...one could use an MD5 sum of the 
origination question just as well as an actual subject).

> 
> -Peter
> 
> 
> Subject: href add in
> From: [some dude I have never heard of]

He's asking html.

> 
> Wondering how I would add in an href to the image logo in the line to
> work:
> 
> echo '<CENTER>'.

echo exists in a number of scripted languages, it isn't clear to me what 
language he is using.

>      "<BR>\n".
> "  <IMG SRC=\"$org_logo\" ALT=\"" . sprintf(_("%s Logo"), $org_name) .
>         "\"$width_and_height> ".
>      "<BR>\n".
>      "</CENTER>\n".
> 
> 
> Though this would work, but no luck:
> 
> echo '<CENTER>'.
>      "<BR>\n".
> 
> " <A HREF="http://www.me.com"> ".  " <IMG SRC=\"$org_logo\" ALT=\"" .
> sprintf(_("%s Logo"), $org_name) .
>         "\"$width_and_height> ". "</a>".
>      "<BR>\n".
>      "</CENTER>\n".

Looks like he is partially asking scripting questions, and partially 
asking html questions, and doesn't know quite which. If you ever 
answered anything to do with the scripting language or html and it got 
indexed by a search engine like google, this is where he might have 
decided you could answer it. Personally I don't mind such questions, but 
sometimes I have to just say "I haven't dealt with this before, I'd have 
to do just as much research as the next guy to figure it out".

D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi.com

> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for any help.
> [Signed, J. Random Email Account Holder]
> 
> 
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