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Why I email complete strangers
51–60 of 101 posts
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#52I have emailed people based on a YouTube video, podcast episode, blog post, or just browsing a project on GitHub. If their email address is available I see that as permission to contact them for "wholesome" purposes. A few things that come to mind: 1. clarification on something in particular that they have already published 2. engage in genuine discussion about adjacent topics in which their opinion is specifically r…
My senior year of college, I emailed a Danish/Swedish professor (had lived in both countries and published in both languages) about a niche research article he had published that I was unable to find. He not only sent me the article, but mailed a couple copies of his books to me in the US. Sadly, my Scandinavian reading comprehension has plummeted since then and I am unable to read his books anymore, but they sit on…
I have emailed two authors now and both responded enthusiastically and answered my questions. Granted, these were also niche texts so I don't imagine it's common for them to get fanmail either!
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#53Forget emailing strangers, I have a hard time talking to my neighbours.
This is funny but true. I don't think I've spoken to my neighbors in any place I've lived in 10 years other than maybe awkwardly running into each other in the hallway.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#54Email them because most people these days never receive a personal email from another real human being, instead of newsletters, solicitations, marketing, announcements, notifications and spam.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#55What's the best way to contact someone about to get real feedback on a paid app / SaaS? Give them a free license? Mention something specific about them, so they knew you actually cared enough to check out that person and manually write the email?
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#56A 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.
A woman wrote a glowing review about a book of poetry my late grandfather wrote. After he died and I was combing the internet for references to him, I found her blog & post. I sent her an email sharing the news and to express how nice it was to read her words as I remembered him. She got back to me quickly. Turns out she had met him at some point in her youth through her mother. We ended up trading stories for a few days.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#57I think the last time I emailed a stranger when I had no business reason to do so was to thank someone for creating an excellent set of instructions for running OpenBSD on the exact model of laptop I wanted to use. I didn't expect a response and I didn't receive a response. I just thought he should know that something he did helped someone else, and now he knows.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#58I’ve had about 10 emails about things I’ve said or presented on this website. I haven’t replied to all of them, which makes me feel bad because each one of them was a nice little surprise on any random day. I worry that no response makes people feel bad. I just can’t respond sometimes because of the anxiety I struggle with. But gosh do I love hearing from strangers about anything. I bet if I can get more comfortable…
I’m curious to hear about why talking to strangers is troublesome for you? For me maybe when I was younger but these days I just treat everyone like an old friend. What kind of pitfalls do you run into? Just a general sense of anxiety?
I have a similar anxiety about emailing or messaging people directly. If I'm just posting a comment on HN or reddit, there's not much commitment and if someone responds but I don't feel like continuing the thread, it's fine to completely ignore it. But if I send something directly to someone, it feels very personal, and like I'm starting a conversation. Once I'm in a conversation I'm obligated to continue it until it reaches a conclusion, and while the anxiety of trying to write things in a personal way is bad, the anxiety of trying to force a conclusion to the conversation is worse.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#59Earlier 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?
He has always replied to me, and has always been gracious, even when I felt a little too argumentative.
It’s hard being an hotheaded internet keyboard warrior like me when the moderators are going out of their way to remain polite and courteous when disagreeing.
This is why I share my email on my website and on my HN profile: it’s so much easier to see the human in 1:1 conversation.
Re: Why I email complete strangers
#60Forget emailing strangers, I have a hard time talking to my neighbours.
Have you tried emailing them?