Very Short Reply Expected • Hacker News Board

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#11

Post by nollidge » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:03 PM UTC

leeoniya wrote: post #2

not trying to be rude or to troll the author, but how does a post about a personal acronym make it to the front page? HN's little mysteries :) now just waiting for those downvotes...

A) Weekends are slow news days

B) It's one of those ideas that combines a very common problem with a very simple solution.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#12

Post by city41 » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:03 PM UTC

It's an interesting idea, probably worth exploring.

It seems like email is exponentially getting harder to manage all the time. One thing I've noticed is if I send a reply from my phone that has the "Sent from my phone" signature on it, then people are 100% ok with short, blunt replies where they wouldn't be without that signature.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#13

Post by drivebyacct2 » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:05 PM UTC

thatthatis wrote: post #9

xnxn wrote: post #4

I like this idea, but I wonder about the phrasing. I wouldn't want my more... loquacious colleagues to misinterpret it as an imperative ("please do not send me a wall of text").

Interesting point. Is VSRE something that empowers the respondent to choose: A "social out from a full polite response"? Or is it a "social obligation to provide a short response?"

That's not my perception from the "... Expected" bit, personally. It seems the social obligation would be on being short/brief.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#14

Post by chucknibbleston » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:07 PM UTC

I find "VSRE" unnecessary: if you write efficiently, anyone capable of a VSR will follow suit.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#15

Post by minikomi » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:07 PM UTC

xnxn wrote: post #4

I like this idea, but I wonder about the phrasing. I wouldn't want my more... loquacious colleagues to misinterpret it as an imperative ("please do not send me a wall of text").

I immediately felt the same way and though NLRN - no long reply needed - or something along those lines might be more polite. Good idea though!

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#16

Post by slig » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:07 PM UTC

endgame wrote: post #10

leeoniya wrote: post #2

not trying to be rude or to troll the author, but how does a post about a personal acronym make it to the front page? HN's little mysteries :) now just waiting for those downvotes...

You could probably call it a meat-level communication hack or something. I like it, but I'd probably use it in the subject line. Similar to how some people use to signal that an email has no body. Now let's see if it gains traction.

Also, if you write "EOM" in the subject, GMail won't complain about sending an email with no body.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#17

Post by danbruc » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:09 PM UTC

thatthatis wrote: post #9

xnxn wrote: post #4

I like this idea, but I wonder about the phrasing. I wouldn't want my more... loquacious colleagues to misinterpret it as an imperative ("please do not send me a wall of text").

Interesting point. Is VSRE something that empowers the respondent to choose: A "social out from a full polite response"? Or is it a "social obligation to provide a short response?"

Make it explicit - VSRA vs VSRE, acceptable vs expected. But this makes the whole thing unnecessarily complex and I would prefer VSRA - I am fine with getting a very short reply. If it is not possible a, long reply is also fine but try to keep it as short as possible.

Different suggestions from the comments.

  CURT - condensed unfussy reply tolerable
  CURT - CURT unfussy reply tolerable
  NLRN - no long reply needed
  TCRA - très courte réponse attendue
  VSRA - very short reply acceptable
  VSRO - very short reply okay
  VSRW - very short reply welcome

That got forked quickly. And we need a standardization committee. Or maybe a poll will do.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#18

Post by tikhonj » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:12 PM UTC

This is what I use Jabber for--Jabber messages have an implicit VSRE attached. In practice, it's just like email except that the replies are usually short. For me, Jabber messages get delivered to the same places on both my computer and phone, and take about the same amount of effort to respond to.

It has the added benefit of potentially being a real-time conversation as well--this sometimes happens with a flurry of short emails, but it's much more awkward.

I was hoping Google Wave would take off an neatly combine the two. But it never did :(.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#19

Post by sophacles » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:13 PM UTC

leeoniya wrote: post #2

not trying to be rude or to troll the author, but how does a post about a personal acronym make it to the front page? HN's little mysteries :) now just waiting for those downvotes...

Because we all deal with the too much email problem. Here's a nice solution. However, that solution won't be understood or used until it gets a critical number of eyeballs etc.

Re: Very Short Reply Expected

#20

Post by Xanthius » Sun, Apr 21, 2013, 10:16 PM UTC

I'd want to maintain the French aspect, esp if it's an alternative to RSVP....

Strictly: Très courte réponse attendue. My preferred: Tout courte réponse attendue.

So maybe TCRA instead of VSRA...?