181–190 of 232 posts
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As we are not organic beings, clearly it would be foolish of us to accept such unnecessary inefficiencies.
I agree with the second part of your statement. Why not make things more efficient where we can?
1) Because it isn't always worth the cost
2) Because we don't always fully understand the systems we are modifying
Which hearkens back to, "Don't fix it if it ain't broke". Inefficient is not automatically broke.
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> Are you really that damn busy that you can't spend a minute or less writing a more natural and conversational reply It's not that simple. If I'm in the middle of a coding binge I can switch over and fire off a 'VSRE' without losing place. Converting that into a 'sociable' reply requires a mental context switch out of coding land and into human land. That doesn't cost me 2 minutes, It costs me half an hour [0]. So e…
Why wouldn't you wait until you take a break to reply to emails? You're choosing to switch over during a "coding binge" when you don't need to.
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…
It's been around long enough now that you probably don't have to worry about it going away anytime soon, and its users really like it.
(I am not affiliated)
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Many of my most truncated email responses have come from executives and other businesspeople. VSRE sounds great for anyone with limited time, and sufficient trust. I'd feel good using something like this with another person who I know well, or know to be businesslike. I wouldn't use this with someone I don't know well in a social context.
I think that for a lot of the execs truncation is a well established way to communicate self-importance.
I love this. I'm also extremely fond of EOM (short for End Of Message. An email with a short subject and no body). Often I send EOMs to imply a VSRE. For example, "Grill tonight? Have burgers. Off work @ 6. EOM" Very interested in learning others.
NT: No text This one is shorter than the rest, and easy to grok. VSRE OR EOM? I'd have to look those up.
I think people tend to grossly exaggerate how many emails they really do get. Are you really that damn busy that you can't spend a minute or less writing a more natural and conversational reply that indicates to the other person that you're reciprocating the amount of thought and effort they invested in their message? I agree with some others here in saying that this is awkward. You don't strive for efficiency in soc…
"If it was hard to write, it should be hard to read."
"If it took long to write, it should take long to reply to."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with the second part of your statement. Why not make things more efficient where we can?
The main reasons are: 1) Because it isn't always worth the cost 2) Because we don't always fully understand the systems we are modifying Which hearkens back to, "Don't fix it if it ain't broke". Inefficient is not automatically broke.
Don't fix it if it ain't broke seems to run counter to innovation. I'd try for improvement on a functional system if there's a positive expected outcome.
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You can't communicate effectively without a protocol/language/etc, but communicating is not about consensus; it's about communicating ideas/thoughts/etc. Consensus is a part of communication, not its aim. I agree that not offending/annoying someone is beneficial and might outweigh the message you have to communicate, but that isn't relevant to discussion about the efficiency of the protocol. If in spite of brusquenes…
Think of the "consensus" as the embedded state within a communication. In a feudal society a lord might send a written missive to the King or Queen, and if they did it would contain a ton of horribly polite boilerplate, because the consensus of the time on both sides was that anything less was disrespectful. It is very possible that your lack of words in a given communication sends a point across that you never inten…