Good morning, Every week I receive a large amount of email regarding my software and XAS in general. I am sure that's no surprise to anyone reading this. While I certainly want to encourage people to feel free to contact me about XAS, the software, and any other topic, the time I have to address the needs and concerns of all the people contacting me is limited. In recent weeks I have received an unusual number of emails containing vague, ill-posed questions or requests for inordinate amounts of help. The other day I was frustrated by one such correspondent, so today I am indulging myself by ranting in a public forum ;-) Consider this message that I received the other day:
I have a sample with lead adsorbed onto manganese oxide and I have its EXAFS. I want to study the Pb-Mn shell (including r(Pb-Mn) and the number of Mn atom around Pb atom). How should I proceed?
Awaiting your reply.
Contrast that with an email I received from a user who had some questions along with a bug report regarding how e0 is determined by Athena:
I'm attaching an Athena project with a sample labeled Libethenite and a Cu standard, along with an step by step explanation included in the project journal.
I trust the difference between these two is clear. I do not know either of these individuals except by their emails. Both are from places far away from Chicago. The first received a 5-line response while I spent two hours on a plane flight two weeks ago addressing the second one. I encourage people to contact me at any time with any question about XAS or my software. Indeed, if Athena and Artemis are useful data analysis tools today it is only because of the kind and generous feedback I have received from its users. But if a genie were to grant me a wish, it would be that more folks were like the second correspondent than the first. Thanks, B -- Bruce Ravel ----------------------------------- bravel@anl.gov -or- ravel@phys.washington.edu Environmental Research Division, Building 203, Room E-165 Argonne National Laboratory phone and voice mail: (1) 630 252 5033 Argonne IL 60439, USA fax: (1) 630 252 9793 My homepage: http://feff.phys.washington.edu/~ravel EXAFS software: http://feff.phys.washington.edu/~ravel/software/exafs/