"I like blitz mail because it is getting people to write to each other again, instead of using the telephone. It is reviving the art of letter-writing." Dartmouth Faculty Member
"I use e-mail words, but having spent part of my childhood among the results of a real blitz, I don't like that word's assocations." Dartmouth Faculty Member
"Over the years I have a pavlovian dog like reaction to my notifier sound. Every time I hear it, I go running to my computer. It's just automatic now." Dartmouth '97
"It is frightening what blitz does to people here. When the phone rings, there is actual surprise or amazement if it is an on campus call. Friends at other schools have no concept of the depth of blitz here, no matter how much I try to explain.... When I graduate, the blitz withdrawal will be quite painful, especially losing the account. But I will survive, as I was forced to over breaks, etc. But I can live without it." Dartmouth '96
"Though I do think blitzmail has added so much to my college experience, I feel it does have an impersonal touch, which can sometimes lead to miscommunication. For this reason, I prefer to discuss important or sensitive issues in person or over the phone. I try not to use blitzmail too much." Dartmouth '97
"You just gotta love it...blitz makes organizing my life so easy." Dartmouth Staff
"I certainly makes heading an organization much, much easier. I really utilitize mailing lists alot." Dartmouth '96
"I have enjoyed the dymanic of getting to know people through their written as well as spoken word. I'm also one of those people who sends themselves reminders in the subject line." Dartmouth '99
"Blitzmail has become fairly indispensible to my meager social life. Somehow the idea of actually calling someone seems so much more serious than any other form of communication now, I instinctually shy away from it. My blitzmail, though, fairly well follows my modes of conversation and dress. Perhaps slightly more formal than most people would think normal, although occasionally abnormally informal. " Dartmouth '98
"Blitzmail is a very convenient way to get a hold of people, etc, but it does have some downsides. I can think off-hand of several profs. (in the science depts.) who use it as a way to avoid meeting with students. (i.e., "If you have any questions, just send me a blitz and phrase your question as concisely as possible") its a shame, because it is these very people who could use a little more practice with their social/communicative skills. The same holds true for students. some kids would rather spend 10 minutes blitzing someone down the hall rather than go and actually talk face to face. But what can you do? "Blitzmail" is here to stay, and overall, the benefits of it probably outweigh the costs." Dartmouth '96
"i'm addicted. Last spring i was on an LSA and we were literally helpless the first few weeks trying to fiture out how we were supposed to organized ourselves and figure out what to do at night without the aid of blitzmail." Dartmouth '97
"I found myself using blitzmail so much freshman year, that when my phone rang, it scared me. So now I consciously try to use the phone more, like when asking friends if they want to go to dinner." Dartmouth '97
"I put my answers in bold (having moved the qu. to the hard disk, because you can't do bold and a lot of other things on blitz, which is a fault in it I forgot to mention." Dartmouth Faculty Member
"I love Blitzmail, but after three years of Dartmouth (and living off-campus) I've managed to kick the habit a little..." Dartmouth '97
"i've never even heard "grin" mentioned in 4 years- don't even know what that or "flame" etc. is." Dartmouth '96
":) :( => &&&" Dartmouth Faculty Member
"I generally dislike "BlitzSpeak," such as smileys and use of asterisks, but I do occassionally use them on Usenet, or when I occassionally venture onto IRC, only because my messages will be read by a number of people who do not know me personally. As such, something like a smiley is important in making sure a statement which may cause confusion otherwise isn't taken the wrong way. Overall, though, I think it's unfortunate that we have to resort to idiotic things like smileys to communicate instead of just taking advantage of the rich vocabulary of the English language." Dartmouth '97
"I don't like how emoticons can change my writing. They allow me to get sloppy about conveying my mood or reaction by my words alone. I wish they weren't so enticingly convenient to use." Dartmouth Staff/Alumnus
"One other thing to consider is actions from the net. For instance, I note that since I used to use *pats you on the head* all the time on the net, I have actually started doing it to people in RL. ;)" Dartmouth '98
"=)" Dartmouth '99
"I have been using email for 20+ years, and use it to communicate with co-workers all over the world, so I would greatly miss the loss of email. But I would survive." Dartmouth Faculty Member
"I have been doing research on the environmental movement in Russia which would have been impossible without e-mail." Dartmouth '99
"... it's just too hard to read all-caps. The letters all look basically the same in most fonts - the vertical lines are just not helpful either." Dartmouth '99
"Having a boyfriend who has already graduated, Blitzmail saves us a lot of money on phone bills, as well." Dartmouth '97
"Life just got going so fast that if I wanted to send mail to my friends it had to be fast too. So, I fell into the lazy, but fast habit of not using upper-case." Dartmouth '96
"This term, I've received letters from three friends who are away from Dartmouth. There was a smiley-face in every one of them." Dartmouth '97
"i guess it's not that unusual... but i just hate my shift key. i only use it when i have to write papers or in other such formal writing." Dartmouth '96
"I do use things like *smile* in verbal conversation, but it is less due to the influence of blitzmail, I would say, than the fact that my face isn't as visually emotive as most people's seem to be." Dartmouth '98
"Great way of moving data and diagrams rapidly. I got a diagram I wanted from a colleague in New Zealand overnight." Dartmouth Faculty Member
"Eat Pork & Beans." Dartmouth '99
| TOC | Intro | Tone | Dartmouth | Grammar | Emotives | Acronyms | Quotes | Conclusion | Contributors | Bibliography |
Last modified by Carla C. Emmons 10 March 1996.