Oh, this nohello nonsense again. Since when politeness isn´t a thing?
[8 hours later due to different TZ]
"Hey there, can I help you?"
[8 hours later due to different TZ]
"Can I ask a question?"
[8 hours later due to different TZ]
"Of course, you don't need to ask that!"
[8 hours later due to different TZ]
asks question
[8 hours later due to different TZ]
gives answer
---
That's often been my problem with that.
I'm all for politeness, but these are people I work with, not strangers, and it's basically my job to answer their questions, and they know I'm in a different timezone, and whom I've told that they can just ask their question directly. Certainly in this context I don't think it's any less polite than "Hi there, how you doing? I'd like to ask a question: [question]".
No one is really helped with this: not the developer or support staff who wants an answer, not customer who has to wait longer for an answer.
I also answer these sort of things outside work hours (I don't mind doing that, I also get a lot of flexibility in return), and three different messages is more invasive than just one. Actually, come to think of it, it's less polite to do it the "polite" way.
If you say “Hi” I can’t tell what you want, and I tend to move onto somebody who actually asks a question because I know what I am getting into.
The conversation is marked as read, and you disappear into the noise.
Please help me to help you.
The problem is when people write "Hi"/"Hello" without the question, then waiting for the reply, then want to simulate a smalltalk, and only then asking the question.
In many cases they're not even thought about this question in advance, and didn't framed it or phrased it, to make it easier on the other side to understand the problem.
I mean would you send an e-mail with just a "Dear $name" and nothing else?