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Comment by jcims | Hacker News Reader

I've settled on:

    u1: <greeting><urgency><question>

The reply is almost always:

    u2: <greeting>
    u2: <response>

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<off-topic>

For some reason that reminded me of this gem: http://www.bash.org/?23396

Not sure if I should be pleased or horrified with myself that it took me less than 15 seconds to find that link. :/

If you like this kind of meta-talking, there a whole scene in the movie Schizopolis that's basically like this.

Hilarious, thanks for sharing.

This is exactly what I do, and it generally has good results. I don't have to worry about being rude, because the greeting - usually a simple "Hey!" - is there for those who care about it, and my question is also right there. Makes Slack turnarounds MUCH faster.

I'm on the other side where I'm answering questions, I start with

"Hi, what is the problem you're having?", the only answer to that is exactly what I want to hear. Not "Hey what can I do for you today" or anything like that to which the answer could start with a review, or an anecdote, or whatever.

So the other side of this is greet people with direction.

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