> Perhaps there could be a standard or canned response to these questions
> that cites appropriate general books and articles to begin research with.
> In that way you would be giving a response but not feeling like you have
> to do their work for them. Point them to Twain A to Z, Paine's biography,
> some critical works.
>
> I agree with Jerry O'Brien that these are inappropriate messages, but
> they seem to stem from basic ignorance of the research process.

Taylor has very good information about researching Twain in the
Forum's Survival Guide.  The original question concerned how to
respond to someone who sent a request for information directly to an
individual rather than through the list.  For those kinds of
requests, I think we need to keep in mind that when someone sends
you an unsolicited request for information, you are under no
obligation to reply.  Before I added the Alta Vista search page to my
Mark Twain Resources on the WWW site, I was getting anywhere from
five to ten messages a day from people looking for specific
information.  These came from teachers, librarians and parents as
well as from students or people with a general interest in Twain
who were trying to find specific works, quotes or critical studies.
(Someone recently wanted to know where Twain used the word
"malapropism" -- it's astounding to me what people think I know!)
I just do not have time to respond to that many questions with the
information they are looking for so unless the question intrigues me in
some way or I can provide an instant answer, I don't respond.  I have not
received any e-mail flames for not responding, and that may be the
best way to handle seemingly inappropriate questions.

Jim Zwick
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http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/