Anytime I have worked for a larger organization, I wished they would have a quick session on best practices / etiquette with communication.
Email Introduction Etiquette
81–90 of 120 posts
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, the To/Cc thing predates email by quite a bit. CC stands for "carbon copy" [1], which referred to typing a letter with a sandwich of regular paper and carbon paper, so that you got one or more copies in addition to your original. The To/Cc headings were a common thing on paper memos. I'm sure the Bcc behavior was common as well with paper memos, but I suspect the name only appeared with the invention of ema…
I presume the "it doesn't exist in any other communication medium" refers to "the social dynamics" not the concept of CC and BCC.
I think most of that dynamic was pretty common in paper memos. The only thing I see as plausibly novel is the "moving to Bcc" thing, where you politely drop participants from a Cc list.
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, please. This intro etiquette isn't about status; it's about respect for people's time. People still generally want to help people succeed. But people are also busy . I do intros like this pretty much any time I talk to two people who are likely to benefit by talking. I'd guess I average 2 a week. I've been in San Francisco 14 years, and I think this place is even easier to navigate now than when I got here. Few c…
People still generally want to help people succeed. Doubt it. Rents and house prices are at a record high due to horrible NIMBY regulations and no one's doing a damn thing about it. Startup equity slices are tiny, and the old Silicon Valley guarantee (that working for a startup meant the founders would take a personal interest in setting you up to be a founder in your next gig) is long gone. VCs are funding lots of w…
Evidence? I don't see any of that as worse than 15 years ago except the rents. And that I'd blame on demand spikes more than nimbyism.
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're not the same thing. An "ask" is the item being requested, it is not the question. "Can I have a cookie?" is a question, the cookie is the ask. An ask is implicitly tangible or substantial. "What's the weather today?" is a question, it doesn't really have an ask, since the item being demanded is trivial. It exists in business jargon specifically to separate minor requests "can you send me that file?" from subs…
Alright, so 'ask' here is just synonym for 'request', then. Looked it up... most dictionaries don't have a noun form of 'ask', though macmillan has a separate page just for it. (It's also a Scandinavian myth about the first man made from an ash tree, but that's probably not the intended use from the OP)
As I said before, the word is more specific than "request". Yes, it's an ugly term, but no, you can't make it go away by pretending it means something different.
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#85If you're like me, and sometimes jump to the discussion before reading the article, please go ahead and read the article. It's one of those rare ones that is truly a summary of itself: super short, information dense, with every part having meaning and nothing else. This protocol is super simple, and allows for very efficient transfer of information without putting people in uncomfortable situations.
Here's another take on the subject: double opt-in introduction by Fred Wilson: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/11/the-double-optin-introductio...
so if one person opts in, and the other does not, do you just tell the first: "sorry he wasn't interested in meeting you"?
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is incoherent. Is the ask the item being requested, or is it a demand? Neither of these are how it's used in the article, either. Which mostly goes to show that it's not a word with a definition as we think of it -- it's a word that displays familiarity with the tech scene and is used as a social signal.
It's not incoherent, it's an idiom.
My project is a paradigm too.
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a pretty rude and selfish way to approach a mailing list. I wouldn't be surprised if such a question goes on to be ignored.
There are uses: From: me To: me Bcc: foo-enthusiasts Subject: [survey] what's your favorite version? What's your favorite version of foo? Write me off-list and I'll post back to summarize.
From RFC 1855, Netiquette Guidelines, Section 3.1.2, Mailing List Guidelines:
> If you ask a question, be sure to post a summary. When doing so, truly summarize rather than send a cumulation of the messages you receive.
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#88This is spot on, but this is still a PITA for everyone involved. There should still be a better way.
I don't have a ton of love for LinkedIn, but this is a problem they've taken on and solved to some degree. If I have a second-degree LinkedIn connection, I can request an intro through an intermediary, who has the chance to reject it, pass it along, and so on. I'm not sure how much the investment community uses LinkedIn, but it seems like the closest thing to a solution right now.
I'm reluctant to use LinkedIn for two reasons.
1) Comes across as impersonal to the person I'm contacting. 2) LinkedIn is often checked infrequently at best.
I'm sure any solution would have same obstacles to overcome, but this is why I don't use it.
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alright, so 'ask' here is just synonym for 'request', then. Looked it up... most dictionaries don't have a noun form of 'ask', though macmillan has a separate page just for it. (It's also a Scandinavian myth about the first man made from an ash tree, but that's probably not the intended use from the OP)
As I said before, the word is more specific than "request". Yes, it's an ugly term, but no, you can't make it go away by pretending it means something different.
I can believe you, but, having read your previous comments in this thread, I'm still not seeing the distinction between ask and request.
Re: Email Introduction Etiquette
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
As I said before, the word is more specific than "request". Yes, it's an ugly term, but no, you can't make it go away by pretending it means something different.
I can believe you, but, having read your previous comments in this thread, I'm still not seeing the distinction between ask and request .
An ask is the subject/object of a request.
If you were to request a cookie, you would say "Can I have a cookie?". The entire question is the request, where "cookie" is the ask.