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Comment by x87678r | Hacker News Reader

I dont mind that, what drives me nuts is the people who say "hi", then wait for you to say "hi", then they start typing the message they wanted to send, taking 5 minutes to write a short essay, while you're sitting there distracted and waiting.

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Each time that they do, have an auto reply set up to respond with https://www.nohello.com/2013/01/please-dont-say-just-hello-i... ?

Nice. https://www.nohello.com/ is easier to remember, I'll start doing this.

Yeah they should redesign that website to be a single simple page with the content of that unique blog post. It's a bit ironic that they don't get straight to the point.

Looks like the desktop version goes straight to the point, but the mobile version doesn't.

I like it. But in the second example they've already finished typing the whole question by the time they said Hi in the first.. then we're told the second way finishes "minutes sooner"? Hmm. That appears to make no sense.

Not wasting the other person's time is however super-important, and a great fast test of whether someone is considerate enough to be an online friend or not.

I remember facing this situation a couple of times and all I did was ignore the initial "Hi", after a long time my interlocutor would insist "Hi? Are you there?"; and then I would finally reply "Yes! I just thought you would continue to write your message and I was waiting".

This "play dumb" strategy worked great for me and I think it has less risk to be perceived as "rude" compared to sending a link to the nohello.com site.

I think this is often used when the person could save minutes of work if you're around to give some knowledge, but if you're not they'll go ahead and research it. No point in them or you spending more time typing if the connection can't be made in the moment.

I agree. I have a coworker who does this on the phone too. "Hey, how are you?", ugh. Look, you didn't call me and interrupt whatever I was doing to chit chat, tell me what the damned problem is.

Agreed. If I want to talk to you, we can do that once we discuss why you called. I know you really aren't interested in what you are asking me, you are getting ready to ask me the real question.

In India, it's more like, "Kaha hai tu?". Translated: where are you? I am like same planet you are on.

Or the related "Hi, can I ask you a question?"

I hope this email finds you well.

It's like they want to pretend they had anything to offer in the conversation. They want to hide the fact that all they had was a question. All they ever have is questions.

I hear a lot of people express this sentiment, and I honestly don't fully understand the frustration.

Why do you have to wait for them to type out the real message? Is there some social/messaging etiquette that I'm breaking by ... read and get back to them when I have time?

They've already potentially interrupted you by sending you that "hi". But the "hi" contains zero content. And worst of all, they often wait for your reply, which means you have to actually do something to get them to tell you what they wanted to tell you.

If you say straight away what you're writing about I can decide how important it is and if I should interrupt my current task. I'd rather see something like:

hi - can you please approve this ticket 123

hi - URGENT the website is out can you please check the DB

hi - do you want to come to the bar tonight with the team

If you just say "hi", I dont know which one its going to be. Put it in one line I know whether to pay attention or do later.

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