You reach out to an eminent person in your field whom you don't know with a question, they respond with a brief, but polite answer. Their answer does not call for a response from you. Do you leave it there or do you respond with a "thank you" email?

If they answered you and were polite about it, I don't think you can go wrong with something like, "Thanks so much for your time, I really appreciate it."

I had a peculiar experience with the situation as described in the OP, when the response was not only brief and polite but also evidently wrong. I didn't know what my next step then should be.

3 hours ago, Phi for All said:

If they answered you and were polite about it, I don't think you can go wrong with something like, "Thanks so much for your time, I really appreciate it."

^this

3 hours ago, Genady said:

I had a peculiar experience with the situation as described in the OP, when the response was not only brief and polite but also evidently wrong. I didn't know what my next step then should be.

If it’s a person with whom you’d like the exchange to continue, consider a response style such as:

”Thanks so much for the response, though I suspect I’m misunderstanding you. It sounded to me like you said XYZ, however it’s always been explained to me that ABC. If it’s not too much trouble, perhaps you can point me to the source of the contradiction so I may continue correcting errors in my thinking?”

1 hour ago, iNow said:

consider a response style such as:

”Thanks so much for the response, though I suspect I’m misunderstanding you. It sounded to me like you said XYZ, however it’s always been explained to me that ABC. If it’s not too much trouble, perhaps you can point me to the source of the contradiction so I may continue correcting errors in my thinking?”

This would be good but would not apply like this in that specific case. Here what it was.

I've found that wire black corals on Bonaire reefs always make a right-handed helix (as discussed here: Wire Black Coral helix ? - Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology - Science Forums). I've asked in the email to one of the researchers who published papers about this species if this phenomenon has been observed before.

The person answered that it has not been observed because from their experience these corals make right- or left-handed helices randomly, "like in the photographs attached." Four underwater photographs were attached. All four showed right-handed helices only.

 

Edited January 7, 20232 yr by Genady

19 minutes ago, Genady said:

This would be good but would not apply like this in that specific case. Here what it was.

I've found that wire black corals on Bonaire reefs always make a right-handed helix (as discussed here: Wire Black Coral helix ? - Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology - Science Forums). I've asked in the email to one of the researchers who published papers about this species if this phenomenon has been observed before.

The person answered that it has not been observed because from their experience these corals make right- or left-handed helices randomly, "like in the photographs attached." Four underwater photographs were attached. All four showed right-handed helices only.

 

Could that be due to a difference in convention?

2 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Could that be due to a difference in convention?

I don't think so. I don't think there is such a difference. And, anyway, they all had the same handedness.