I am aware of this happening to the Phys-l list perhaps twice in the last
month or so.
These occurred when I was reading my email on my Droid phone. Since this is
a touch-screen device, and you move your finger along the screen to scroll
the message, it is possible to accidentally get your finger into the "reply
tab" portion of the screen while you are actually trying to scroll. If I
accidentally do that, I should be popped into the "reply window." Assuming
I didn't really intend to reply, I should be able to back out of the reply
window. However, once in the reply window, the "send tab" is in the same
location on the screen as where the the reply tab was. That means that if I
am trying to scroll twice, and the application registers two successive hits
in that portion of the screen, the first hit pops me into the reply screen,
and the second hit registers as "send," hence sending a blank reply.
Of course, once I see the phone is sending a blank reply, I know it is doing
so, but I can't stop it. Since I can see this happening, I should be aware
of it, and I only remember doing this twice in the past several weeks. If
you are getting more blank replies than that, I don't know why, because I
don't remember any more than two. I don't usually read my mail on my Droid
phone or my iPod except when I am travelling. From July 7 through now, I
have been on the road more than I have been home. and have indeed been
accessing mail on those devices quit a bit. I probably have sent 5 or 6
blank replies, but I think only two went to Phys-l.
Sorry to be a nuisance. I'll try to be more careful when scrolling on my
touch screen devices. Generally speaking, a blank reply from me or anyone
probably means an accidental send was initiated. My experience is that this
can be pretty easy to do on mobile touch-screen devices.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Chair, Division of Natural and Applied Sciences
Bluffton University
1 University Drive
Bluffton, OH 45817
419.358.3270 (office)
edmiston@bluffton.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: LaMontagne, Bob
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 11:35 AM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] resigning and why ******** New Thread
Doe everyone else receive replies by Mike E that are simply resending of
others poster's messages with no comments from Mike himself?