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No hello – please don't just say hello in chat

nohello.net

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Re: No hello – please don't just say hello in chat

#61

Post by taylodl »

I tend to ignore people who just say hello - unless it's someone I'm closely working with on a project. I intend to get back to them, but, because I don't know what they need I can't really prioritize it so I subconsciously prioritize last (I don't intentionally mean to) and since I have so much to do I usually never get back with them until: they provide context.

Much better is something like hello, don't mean to bother you but hey when you have the time can you . That works so much better - many times I'll just take care of it immediately just to keep my backlog of work from growing. If it's something that's going to be more involved I'll let them know that and work out when they're needing it done by. Then I'll get it on my to-do list.

If it's urgent then say so - hello, sorry to bother you but this came up unexpectedly and you're the only one that can do . Can you help us out? I may be annoyed, but I'm not going to shoot the messenger.

Just hello? No. It slips off my radar.

Re: No hello – please don't just say hello in chat

#63

Post by Volundr »

satisfice wrote: post #53

This is a stupid post. By stupid I mean it seems to me that the author of it is deliberately refusing to use his mind. The purpose of saying “hi” is to check for presence in order to initiate a live conversation. It sends a message that the person wishes to speak live whenever that is convenient. I’m sorry if the poster doesn’t understand the value of live conversation, but that’s not our problem. Now people like me…

> The purpose of saying “hi” is to check for presence in order to initiate a live conversation.

This is exactly how I have always interpreted it, and exactly why I hate it. It's trying to force an async form of communication to be synchronous. Imagine how obnoxious it would be if someone just sent you an email with no subject and the text "Hi".

Don't do this. If you need to have a synchronous chat about something don't just go "Hi". Go with "Hi, when you have a few minutes can we chat about X?" So the other end can prioritize it. Better yet schedule an actual call of synchronous chats.

Re: No hello – please don't just say hello in chat

#64

Post by mekal »

greyhair wrote: post #55
ghaff wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Circumstances differ of course but it helps to have as few notifications turned on as possible. I don't know how some people manage when their phone or computer is pinging them for just about every random event.

precisely My phone lives on DND. Only priority numbers get through on text. I check it every two hours, on odd numbered hours. If you text me expecting a response, and you aren't in my priority pool, I'll get back to you. After all, it is my phone, not yours. My work slack is only available during my work day. Out of hours, it is closed.

I can remember when I was younger my mom getting pissed when the phone (landline) would ring and thinking jeez, chill out! Some years later I'm doing something trying to concentrate and I get like 20 dings in a row on some group text message and I almost toss my phone into the wall lol. Mostly only priority stuff gets through these days. Every now and then my sister will hit me with a rapid-fire 10 ding (one per sentence) message but thanks to the nuclear option silent mode switch I can usually shut that shit down by about the 3rd ding. What sucks though is I sometimes forget to unsilence it for days. Maybe that's an upside though.

Re: No hello – please don't just say hello in chat

#65

Post by HKH2 »

clircle wrote: post #15

I can't understand why people are so passionate about whether one says hello or not in a chat. What kind of lives do you lead that drive you to make a website about such a niche annoyance?

If you don't find context switching costly at all, fine. Some of us can't multitask or quickly regain focus.

Re: No hello – please don't just say hello in chat

#66

Post by sshine »

unfocussed_mike wrote: post #52
lamontcg wrote: post #50

There's also vaguebugging that usually goes along with this, and which gets used in public channels: "Hey team, is anyone seeing a problem with ?" (well, I have a bugtracker with around 300-400 issues in it, so yes... what is your specific problem?) That is counter productive because I get this mental image of you with a fishing rod with bait on the hook waiting for me to bite, and my natural reaction is to not bothe…

This, for what it's worth, is much more annoying to me than a bit of conversational flow. "Vaguebugging" is such a useful word that it is now noted for future use.

I like this term, too, but I don't understand why apparently it has negative connotations.

If someone doesn't have a clue, and they don't want to stand up and announce it, how do you suggest they go about it?

At least in a public channel, no one person is committed to answer, and the most patient / the person who knows the least what vaguebugging means, can answer.

Re: No hello – please don't just say hello in chat

#68

Post by lamontcg »

sshine wrote: post #66
unfocussed_mike wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, for what it's worth, is much more annoying to me than a bit of conversational flow. "Vaguebugging" is such a useful word that it is now noted for future use.

I like this term, too, but I don't understand why apparently it has negative connotations. If someone doesn't have a clue, and they don't want to stand up and announce it, how do you suggest they go about it? At least in a public channel, no one person is committed to answer, and the most patient / the person who knows the least what vaguebugging means, can answer.

they can just post what it is they or the customer are trying to do and the misbehavior they're seeing or the error message.

"is there an issue with the latest release?"

vs.

"i've got a customer that just upgraded from version A.B.C to X.Y.Z and the configured in trying to do is failing with , could this be a regression or did something change deliberately?"

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