I seem to get a steady trickle of pleas, requests, and demands for help from what appear to be utterly clueless Engineering students in India, Korea, and China. I don't get these sorts of requests from Europe, Japan, or America (north or south). I do occasionally get technical questions from European and American students working on projects: they're not the "I have no idea what to do -- send me step-by-step instructions for doing my project" sort of requests I get from various Asian countries. They're usually specific questions on a technical topic about which I've posted. The student was obviously googling for information on a topic and found a mailing list or Usenet thread in which I had participated. Those sorts of questions I try to answer.
I keep reading about how IIT in Bombay is so competitive, and how the graduates go on to invent stuff and run companies all over the world. And yet, I regularly get e-mails like this one:
I've never used the C16X family of parts, so I have no idea why this student chose me. I assume he just picked me at random from the posters to c.a.e.
Are these e-mails legit, or are they just Phishing for e-mail addresses? The reply address and headers look OK.
Do other people get requests like this?
Do you reply to them?
I generally just ignore them.