Communication...communication...communication

I was quite pleased today to get an email from another fan of Steve Ihnat's, complimenting me on the site and sharing his thoughts on Steve's performances. So that was pretty nice.

EDITED a few paragraphs... situation changed!

A few weeks ago someone else had sent me an anecdote about their meeting with Steve, I ask if I can put it on my site, he says sure, I do so, I send him the URL... and that's it. I don't hear from him again. No acknowledgement that he got my email, no acknowledgement that he liked the page...nothing. Did he die or become gravely ill between the time he said, "Yes, share it," and the two hours later when I said, "Here it is." ? I have no way of knowing.

Then there was this other woman. A year or so ago I published an overview article on a certain TV series. She emailed me and said that the article didn't do the show jusstice. She was a big fan of the show, had her own website, etc. So, I invited her to write an article. She said she would. Then, nothing for a month or two. I email her a couple of times, asking if she's changed her mind, and she says no, it's just that things have suddenly become very busy.

And I understand that. Been there, done that. But, I let it go. So, several months later, she emails me and asks me if I'd be interested in publishing the article. And I say sure, send it along. And she does so. And then I spend several hours designig the page for it, putting the photos in, doing the coding - which she as a webperson herself knows is not hard work, but is time consuming, and then I send her the URL of the completed page.

And... nothing. No communication at all. Does she like the way I designed it? I don't know. Does she appreciate the fact that I published it for her? I don't know. I noticed she'd gone around to the various message boards devoted to this TV show and announced her article - so she had received my message telling her it was online and good to go....she just couldn't be bothered to email me back and say, "Hey, thanks."

I admit that kind of frosted my buttons. If the article hadn't been getting so many hits, I would have taken it down, just on principle's sake. But popularity trumps principle. ; )

But I look at these things and I just throw up my hands. Is common courtesy so uncommon, these days? Apparently so.