Heinlein's Fan Mail Solution

It's fascinating for me to try and guess what kind of questions or requests would have prompted certain answers on Heinlein's list. I wonder which ones would have prompted a reference to the "You're Not As Smart As You Could Be" or the "Mental Telegraphy" articles. But I'm especially intrigued by the 12th answer, where Heinlein essentially offers to personally come to a student's defense when a grade on a project seems to depend on Heinlein's reply. I wonder how many times he ended up speaking to teachers, principals, and school boards about this, and what that looked like.

It's worth noting that Isaac Asimov and Piers Anthony made it a point to respond to _every_ letter which they received (and PA noted that they were the only writers who never suffered from writer's block), though later the latter's mail grew to the point where he adopted a similar news letter/form-mail response system.

&gt; I found this letter in a folder of old correspondence from my days when I was editing at the Whole Earth Catalog. It is from the science fiction master Robert Heinlein.<p>One unanswered question here: the image shows <i>no</i> box checked off. So, if it was not in reply to a letter from Kelly (or someone else at Whole Earth), then where did it come from?

I was curious as to what articles he was referring to. Here is the one from number 3:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.panshin.com&#x2F;critics&#x2F;Renshaw&#x2F;notassmart&#x2F;notassmart1.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.panshin.com&#x2F;critics&#x2F;Renshaw&#x2F;notassmart&#x2F;notassmar...</a>

This reads very similar to the <i>Your post advocates a () approach</i> from the early 2000s.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;craphound.com&#x2F;spamsolutions.txt" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;craphound.com&#x2F;spamsolutions.txt</a><p>In action:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;slashdot.org&#x2F;comments.pl?sid=121712&amp;cid=10244451" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;slashdot.org&#x2F;comments.pl?sid=121712&amp;cid=10244451</a>

I&#x27;m amused by the combination of goodwill towards some and implicit snark towards everyone else represented by the last item in the list.

Now this entire process could be (is?) automated. Send an email to your favorite author, some computer references earlier answers and ships it off within seconds.<p>If this does not yet exist it would be a nice SAAS startup? (You owe me 1% of profits)<p>For an add-on cost the bot will wait a random period of time to make it appear that someone had read it, and responded personally.

Love this. Here is a bit bigger version:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bookofjoe.typepad.com&#x2F;.a&#x2F;6a00d8341c5dea53ef017c325db13b970b" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bookofjoe.typepad.com&#x2F;.a&#x2F;6a00d8341c5dea53ef017c325db...</a>

According to Ginny Heinlein’s notes in Grumbles from the Grave, Arthur C. Clarke also eventually used a form letter system.

Was reading Stranger in a Strange Land recently and Heinlein describes a similar system developed for handling the volume of mail addressed to the Man from Mars.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;StrangerInAStrangeLandRobertAHeinlein&#x2F;page&#x2F;n181&#x2F;mode&#x2F;2up" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;StrangerInAStrangeLandRobertAHei...</a> (pg 183)

&gt; Can you imagine other great authors doing the same — even with a form letter?<p>This isn&#x27;t so hard to believe. I have emailed and gotten a response from several people who are fairly famous within a niche that I&#x27;m interested in but am a lay person at.<p>I think folks would be surprised at how receptive many semi-famous people are to a thoughtful question or comment related to their work. Once you get to a certain level of celebrity this all goes out the window and not every message will get a response, but sometimes you get a neat message back.

In a similar vein, here’s a list of canonical Reddit replies (I deleted a few naughty ones).<p>Generating a similar list for HN would be amusing&#x2F;useful. Or surprising, since HN comments are generally more substantive. Still, looking for pattern comments less than, say, three sentences would be interesting.<p>[] Yes [] This [] Came here to say this [] Logged in just to upvote this [] I know this will never be seen but... [] I found this gem... [] This will be downvoted to hell&#x2F;buried but... [] An upvote for you, good sir [] You are a gentleman and a scholar [] You magnificent bastard [] M&#x27;lady &#x2F; tips fedora [] Someone give this man reddit gold [] Edit: Thanks for the gold, kind stranger! [] Anne Frankly I did nazi that coming [] That escalated quickly [] To the top with you! [] Lost it at ____ [] This is why we can&#x27;t have nice things [] Faith in humanity restored [] Whoa &#x2F; mind = blown [] Manly tears were shed [] Cutting onions [] I know that feel, bro [] Right in the feels [] Risky click [] Shots fired [] Nailed it [] You. I like you [] I regret that I only have one upvote to give [] Tree fiddy [] Was not disappointed [] Wait, why do I have you tagged as _______? [] What did I just read? [] Da fuq? [] YOU HAD ONE JOB [] Cakeday [] For science [] That&#x27;s enough internet for me today [] x&#x2F;10 would (not) Y [] What is this I don&#x27;t even? [] How is this WTF? [] Lawyer up, delete facebook, hit the gym [] Said no one ever [] &#x2F;thread [] My first post [] Edit: wow I can&#x27;t believe my top comment is about _______ [] EDIT: Seriously front page? Thanks guys! [] EDIT: Obligatory front page edit!!! [] Are you me? [] No, this is Patrick! [] I laughed way harder than I should have [] It&#x27;s almost like Reddit is thousands of different people with thousands of different opinions. [] Plot twist: _____ [] Step one: be attractive. Step two: don&#x27;t be unattractive. [] ____ here: can confirm &#x2F; can confirm: am ____&#x2F; etc [] Something involving sex with &quot;your mom&quot; [] Mom&#x27;s spaghetti [] Tom Cruise [] Ghandi (Gandhi*) [] [________ intensifies] [] rekt

I lived a mile and a half from Heinlein in the Santa Cruz mountains toward the end of his life, and fantasized about stopping by on a walk and seeing if he wanted to play chess. After reading &quot;Don&#x27;t plan to call at our home&quot; on this list I&#x27;m glad I didn&#x27;t work up the nerve.

He could be great friends with Richard Stallman

This makes him seem like an a-hole.