Unlucky in Raffle Draws

No Hello

I saw a wonderful blog post from Avi Miller about why it's better to not just say "Hello" when initiating a chat with someone before asking any help.

I am always frustrated with peers who would say "hi" or "hello" and nothing else and waits for me to respond before they can ask a question. Maybe they want to check first if I am online, because it's a waste of time for them to type a long paragraph explaining their question and then faced with not one response.

When this is the case I tend to never respond to their "hi" or "hello"; I'll just wait for them to send me the question and maybe then I'll answer.

Please don’t just say hello in chat
Please don’t do this:2020-07-10 12:32:12 you: Hi 2020-07-10 12:32:15 me: Hello. ... time passes ... 2020-07-10 12:34:01 you: I’m working on [something] and I’m trying to do [etc...] 2020-07-10 12:35:21 me: Oh, that’s [answer...] This is the equivalent of calling me on the phone and then putting me…

Subscribe to Derek's Cut

Sign up now to get access to the library of members-only issues.
Jamie Larson
Subscribe