Fucking morons

A sub-group of one of my professional organizations just started a new listserv. And my email inbox has been deluged for the past few days with emails from idiots tech-unsavvy people who hit "reply" or "reply all" to ask to be added to the list or taken off.

I sent out an email telling them all how to subscribe/unsubscribe and informing them that hitting "reply all" or "reply" copied the whole motherfucking list. Since then there have been at least thirty more "please take me off the list" emails sent to the entire listserv. This is why I always end up filtering these damn things, despite my sincere desire to interact with my colleagues around issues important to our fields.

Aaargh! I mean, are we not professionals? Have we not yet learned to use basic, industry-standard communication tools like email and listservs? I throw up my hands in disgust. Seriously, I work with some people who can't attach documents to their email, or who think it's perfectly acceptable to submit files done in programs so far from the industry standard that they can't be opened by anything in the Office suite. I work with people who try to send me handwritten edits by fax (which of course end up illegible) when I know they have access to Word and its "track changes" feature. I work with people, my hand to God, who still hunt-n-peck type.

I mean, I have my own issues with the industry-standard programs. But it's part of being a competent professional to be able to use them. It's part of keeping current in your field to have at least a basic working knowledge of standard tools and communication methods. I don't care how old you are, or how long you've been doing this, or how close you are to retirement. If you can't use simple current technology on a bare-basics competence level, that's not professional.