You don't even know what my email looked like!
We know what your posts look like, and what your communication style is like. We could make a pretty good guess at your emails, frankly.
I only asked a few questions and even separated them in 1,2,3,4... so that answering would be easier.
As mentioned, most martial art instructors (including myself) don't teach full time. To give you an idea of my schedule, I work in retail, so I work 5 days a week, including most weekends (one Sunday off a fortnight)… and, due to the commute, I leave the house at about 7:30am most days. Mondays I'm leading a study group in Kenjutsu, meaning I get home about 10:30pm… Tuesdays I'm teaching, home about 11:30pm… same every second Friday… I also work late every second Thursday night. Then, I have my own personal training time at home, structuring classes and preparing them, writing emails to students, checking for messages, and so on… before we even start to get to any social life or family commitments.
Now, imagine I get home, and there are three emails waiting for me… one asks where and when I teach, so they can come along to watch… another asks what we teach… and then there's an email asking a series of questions, each numbered and requiring a dedicated answer. How much energy do you think I have to put into answering that one in detail? I might send a brief answer, with the message of "come along to see a class", but it might also get put to the back of the pile…
If they don't feel like they have to reply to such an email then I'm not going there.
Wow, that's some sense of empathy you have there…
I think I'll also write them another email telling them how displeased I am and that I've already crossed their facility from
my list.
Kid, grow up. You've roundly ignored many messages, questions, and posts directed towards you here… maybe we should write you an email about how displeased we are that you didn't take the time to immediately respond to our questions and comments… and frankly, if that's your attitude, the school has dodged a bullet if you "cross them off your list". Honestly, if I got an email like the one you describe here, saying how displeased you are that I didn't take time out to spoon feed you answers, I'd be grateful you didn't turn up.
My email was friendly and I was just asking a few valid questions.
"Valid questions" from you might not be anywhere near as valid as you think they are. And as far as "friendly", again, you might not understand how you come across at times.
I wrote that I want to learn some kind of SD but I'm not sure yet
And what would that mean to them? A noncommittal question about an area you might want to focus on but you might not? What?
and I asked if their stuff is practical and if they can comment on differences between their stuff and other stuff like wing chun,krav maga and so on.
Besides the lack of interest in comparisons to other arts, you also have to realise that most martial artists, instructors and students alike, are aware and knowledgable (to a degree) about their own system… not necessarily about any others. It's a real rare breed that has a wider perspective, so asking an instructor how their system compares with one they've never studied or possibly even heard of is frustrating to them in the extreme.
I told them I got different advice from different people and that bc of this I'm uncertain what's best.
You're uncertain because you have no frame of reference… the solution? Get to a damn school already and start!
From your limited and completely inexperienced viewpoint. You may understand that we, having been involved in this for years, decades even, have a different view of the "normal questions" you present here and in your email.
When they don't reply it simply means they suck and don't care about customers.
Crap, son. It means that your email wasn't answered. It doesn't give you the reason, and it doesn't give you any reason to make any such comments about them.
Once again, if this is your attitude, grow the hell up. You're acting like a spoiled entitled brat.
