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No Hello

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Re: No Hello

#91
post #55
post #27

It's 2025, we should be able to use LLMs to adapt between communication styles. If someone I don't know "hello"s me, my LLM should detect that, suppress the notification, and reply automatically - and then resume notifications and defer to me once non-greeting conversation has started.

So, basically the classical annoying phone screen but for you coworkers? What's next - "press 1 for a question about FOO, press 2 for.." and level 1 AI support bots?

Back in the day of early IMs, some unofficial ICQ clients had anti-spam measures which let you set your own question and answer. Being edgy teenagers, we set "leet" questions, which filtered out the unwantables automatically.

Re: No Hello

#92

It's like a protocol handshake, of course. Why transmit information until you've established that the connection works? Consider it a text modem :)

Remember to ask "are you still there?" before sending the answer to their problems, and wait for a response, to make sure the connection is still established. You don't want them to miss the answer to their problem!

Re: No Hello

#93
Yknow what? This doesn't bother me. I've had coworkers who do this. You just respond "hello!" and maybe they just ask their question, or maybe they ask about your day, or whatever else. God forbid I spend an extra 4 seconds per day thinking about a person I work with. Do "hello" messages waste time? Yes. Am I happy to field them anyway? Yes!

Re: No Hello

#94
post #89
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, if you had Siri you'd be forced into the first anyway: "Alexa add peanut butter to shopping list" "OK, what should list should I add to?" "shopping list" "Ok, what should I add for you" "Peanut butter" "Ok, playing Peanut Butter by the Royal Guardsmen on a HomePod you forgot you had"

My whole family uses Siri—both through our phones and through the HomePod mini in the kitchen—to add items to the shopping list. Siri occasionally misunderstands the name of the item, or needs to ask who's speaking (when on the HomePod), or has trouble because the phone of the person asking has briefly dropped off the Wifi, but in the ~5 years we've had it, I can count on one hand the number of times adding has just…

Let me guess, you have an American accent?

Re: No Hello

#95

My wife, god bless her, is really good with people. I try very hard to mimic her, but this multi-round interaction has completely permeated how she interacts over tech, even with tech. I cannot manage it. Her: "Alexa, add to shopping list". "OK, what should I add for you". "Peanut butter". "OK, peanut butter added, what else?". . Me: "Alexa add peanut butter to shopping list". "Peanut butter added". Some people are T…

"Some people are TCP. Some are UDP." Nailed it! This is going up on the wall in my office.

> are UDP. some

:P

Re: No Hello

#96
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It opens a synchronous channel, setting social expectations for somewhat realtime responses. Most of the time I treat chat like "small email", so this is abhorrent.

> It opens a synchronous channel, setting social expectations for somewhat realtime responses. But do you see how that is your choice? You can just type "hello", or a longer form of the same, and then go back to work. You can then check back in about an hour to see if they managed to describe what they are looking for. You can always change yourself, while it is so much harder to change others that it is almost futil…

> You can always change yourself, while it is so much harder to change others that it is almost futile.

This is a defeatist attitude.

Sure, there are some people who will refuse to change no matter what. But many—probably even most—people, if you explain that this is your preferred method of communication when they have a question for you to answer, will at least try to operate that way.

Re: No Hello

#97
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This section should be required reading to get on the internet http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#not_losin...

The scenario described there would be considered harassment under modern Codes of Conduct. Describing the reaction as behaving like a "loser" is likely offensive itself.

While you're likely right in describing the status quo, it's unfortunate that it has come to that.

The one thing that's really objectionable in that section is the last part about people who attack or flame without apparent reason. Such people should be called out by other community members in the same way ESR describes for newcomers in the first part of the section.

Re: No Hello

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Some people are TCP. Some are UDP." Nailed it! This is going up on the wall in my office.

> are UDP. some :P

Misses, sure. But it should be quite rare that the order is wrong. It would only happen if the route changes.

Re: No Hello

#99
This can be a cultural thing, at least in my experience. Particularly with Indian and African colleagues, it seems to be ubiquitous amongst them.

Re: No Hello

#100
post #5

My life hack for this kind of situation is to say “hello” back. Works every time.

Mine is to respond immediately with a question that requires a long and technical answer that by the time they've finished writing has completely erased their question from their mind.
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