Whenever I write something that gets some traction, I get emails. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. One of them is from a guy that tells me "I love your blog, but you got terrible spelling." If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't bother doing a spellcheck before publishing.
Why I email complete strangers
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Re: Why I email complete strangers
#42I agree with this and have received insights on difficult challenges, but I've found that each year it gets more difficult to find an email address for someone.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#43A low-risk way to dip your toes in is to email a blogger to say that you enjoyed their post or that you found it helpful. The message doesn’t have to have useful information in it, just be sincere. Per OP, often there won’t be a reply but also often it’s much appreciated - particularly by non-mainstream writers.
I get dozens of cold emails and LI messages from sales/ recruiting a week. Only about one per year writes "I read your blog and liked your point about xyz." I always take that call. My LI (and HN) profile opens with my blog, so if they did 5 seconds of research they would find it.
Just this week, I got my first AI-automated one, following a pattern of "liked your X, especially Y".
I hope the people doing things like that realize that's awful for humanity, and they stop doing that.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#44I assumed this was a longform "Ode to Spam"
...I'm still not sure it isn't. :)
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#45Maybe it's because I'm a negative person, but even when I do keep in touch with people, I can count those I've stayed in long term contact with on one hand.
And the knowledge I can offer others is also limited.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#46A low-risk way to dip your toes in is to email a blogger to say that you enjoyed their post or that you found it helpful. The message doesn’t have to have useful information in it, just be sincere. Per OP, often there won’t be a reply but also often it’s much appreciated - particularly by non-mainstream writers.
I do this often and it is something that everyone not only appreciates but sometimes their favorite email of that day. Even a simple email like "I really like the design of your website/blog" will make their day.
I once complimented a blogger for composing a particularly eloquent sentence. My compliment was concise and sincere.
All I received in reply was “Thanks!”.
I was thrilled. I earned an exclamation point from an academic who would never deign to use such punctuation lightly.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even lower risk is to email hn@ycombinator.com with duplicate posts or other issues on this site! It helps, and it gets you a bit over the fear of emailing. ;)
dang just does NOT reply though. I don't know what his beef is?
I've emailed dang before and definitely got a reply.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#48Forget emailing strangers, I have a hard time talking to my neighbours.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#49I read a whole article about how cool it is to email people and I’m opening to the idea… then I see the signature and realize it’s probably just a cheap way to get dates, that come to him.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#50A low-risk way to dip your toes in is to email a blogger to say that you enjoyed their post or that you found it helpful. The message doesn’t have to have useful information in it, just be sincere. Per OP, often there won’t be a reply but also often it’s much appreciated - particularly by non-mainstream writers.
I’ve been on the creator side with 1M+ followers and the amount of times someone has dropped a kind note like that can be counted on one hand. It’s such a breath of fresh air compared to the hate, criticizing and general unpleasantness that is so pervasive when dealing with online communities - even my own. As a result, I make it a point to send notes to anyone if I’ve enjoyed their work, because I know how much its…
I sent Colin Furze a note and got back a nice reply. The dude has an insane number of followers, so it was surprising I got a reply.