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Suggestion on these requests for copies of papers



The list is full of "pdf requests" today. When I get a post that says "pdf request" or "request for a paper", I never read it. The odds are I personally don't have the paper in question, and would have trouble finding it if I did. And I don't risk infecting my computer with a virus by opening an unknown e-mail with a vague, very standard subject line.

However, I imagine that most people never read them, for two reasons. First, these lists don't say in the subject line or the author field that they come from, say, the dinosaur or paleontology mailing list, and such a vaguely titled e-mail, like "pdf request", is not unlikely to infect your computer with a virus if you open it. Second, the odds that any particular person has the random paper you are looking for are small, especially if you needed to ask for help obtaining the paper.

Put more information in the subject line. Either the title and date of the paper, or the subject and author, or something, that will communicate to people that the e-mail is valid and whether they are at all likely to have the paper you are looking for.

Yours,
Villandra