5 ms·

Ask HN: Can we do away with the typical Hi XX in emails?

7 points by sidwyn 16y ago

Emails are meant to be instant. Aren't these salutations slowing us down?

Skywing 16y ago
instant in the sense that sending it doesn't take 3-5 business days. they're not necessarily meant to be tweets, although there's nothing wrong with using email for a system like that. they're not slowing anything down, in my opinion. they're to be used when necessary, just like most things. besides, after the initial email in a chain it seems that the trend is to drop that greeting anyways. there are issues larger than writing "Greetings" in your email that you can solve. :P
ryanto 16y ago
The cost of writing 'Hello' in an email is very minimal, the cost of reading one of these greeting is also very minimal. The cost of being perceived as unfriendly, too-business-like, and demanding is just so high. It's not worth the risk. PS: I don't care either way, but I have heard multiple people comment on how they don't like doing business with person xyz because their emails are extremely cold and unfriendly. Because of this I have alway add a nice greeting and a friendly closing. The middle is all business/meat, but padding it with some friendly talk can really help.
- lsc 16y ago
  I find that sales/business people are far more likely to add the "Hi, luke" while more technically oriented people, and friends are more likely to just get down to the message, so in my mind, the salutation makes the letter seem more businesslike and formal. It's a style thing, and it's really not that big of a deal either way, if you ask me. I just find it interesting that our perceptions of "businesslike" are opposite.
  - sidwyn 16y ago
    Exactly! That's what I must have meant.
jacquesm 16y ago
Hello Sidwyn, Why are you afraid that politeness will slow you down? When you walk in to a store and you wish to place an order '1" wrench' is probably as compact as it gets. But 'I would like to have a 1" wrench please' is the normal form and even though it takes slightly longer typically you'll get a better response. You give the recipient a feeling of being appreciated, even though in the strict information theory sense there is nothing added to the conversation. Those few words are the idiomatic way of asking for something and since email is similarly unconstrained in space (as opposed to say SMS text), has its roots in traditional letter writing, and is very easy to write people have settled on a form that is somewhat more compact that a regular (dead tree) letter but still long enough that it carries a sense of old-fashioned politeness. Typically this includes a salutation at the top and a signature at the bottom of some sort (usually a standard file). Of course you are free to leave all of that stuff out, but if you write me 'give banana' without any introduction or explanation the only place where your 'instant' email is going to go is the trash bin. So all that flowery stuff actually increases the chances of the message making it through by using a slightly less compact form. Greetings and much good luck with your quest for efficiency. Your truly, Jacques Mattheij
- danielson 16y ago
  Epic.
- sidwyn 16y ago
  Thanks for your response. Perhaps I should have put a little more thought before asking. What I meant to ask was "Can Hello XX be done away in replies to friends?" Sometimes the conversation just moves faster when you do without it. Of course in formal emails, it's a requirement.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    Hehe, I goofed on the 'Yours truly' :) In replies if it is the first reply I usually include it, if it is the second or later reply in a series of emails usually it gets omitted unless I don't know the person very well. For instance, even though I've been working with my bookkeeper/tax advisor for 15 years I still will be very formal in almost all of my emails with him. But with my brother it can be 'hey how is it going?' on the first email I send to him in a week. It all depends on circumstances and what you feel comfortable with.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
brudgers 16y ago
Email isn't meant to be instant, even if it is faster than snailmail. Unlike a phone call, it's meant to be disconnected. I find the use of a greeting helps me focus on the intended audience. But I don't care if other people use one.
patio11 16y ago
I'd prefer to think of it as "Nothing I had to do today was more important than reaffirming that I care about our relationship."
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
socialmediaking 16y ago
In my experience, greetings are the easy part, whereas deciding how to close the email is the tough part. In my first correspondence with a contact, I usually end with a formal "thank you, (next line my name). I notice most people don't respond back with the same formality, and so I mirror my structure based on theirs. Does anyone have any tips on this or similar interactions?
getonit 16y ago
Ys, lt's do this. Whil w'r at it, can w stop using th lttr 'e'? I'v nvr rally trustd thm, and it would vastly improv my lif if I didn't hav to s thm as oftn. Thank you all for your futur coopration on this mattr.
wglb 16y ago
Slow down, there pal. They are meant to be transmitted instantly, as opposed to requiring a pony to transport a physical copy. Nothing in the requirements for email says that the content itself is of an "instant" variety. I have written emails that took the better part of a day to compose.
revorad 16y ago
I definitely use a salutation in my first email, but omit it in subsequent replies for the same thread.

7 points by sidwyn 16y ago

Emails are meant to be instant. Aren't these salutations slowing us down?

instant in the sense that sending it doesn't take 3-5 business days. they're not necessarily meant to be tweets, although there's nothing wrong with using email for a system like that. they're not slowing anything down, in my opinion. they're to be used when necessary, just like most things. besides, after the initial email in a chain it seems that the trend is to drop that greeting anyways. there are issues larger than writing "Greetings" in your email that you can solve. :P

ryanto 16y ago

The cost of writing 'Hello' in an email is very minimal, the cost of reading one of these greeting is also very minimal. The cost of being perceived as unfriendly, too-business-like, and demanding is just so high. It's not worth the risk. PS: I don't care either way, but I have heard multiple people comment on how they don't like doing business with person xyz because their emails are extremely cold and unfriendly. Because of this I have alway add a nice greeting and a friendly closing. The middle is all business/meat, but padding it with some friendly talk can really help.

lsc 16y ago
I find that sales/business people are far more likely to add the "Hi, luke" while more technically oriented people, and friends are more likely to just get down to the message, so in my mind, the salutation makes the letter seem more businesslike and formal. It's a style thing, and it's really not that big of a deal either way, if you ask me. I just find it interesting that our perceptions of "businesslike" are opposite.
- sidwyn 16y ago
  Exactly! That's what I must have meant.

jacquesm 16y ago

Hello Sidwyn, Why are you afraid that politeness will slow you down? When you walk in to a store and you wish to place an order '1" wrench' is probably as compact as it gets. But 'I would like to have a 1" wrench please' is the normal form and even though it takes slightly longer typically you'll get a better response. You give the recipient a feeling of being appreciated, even though in the strict information theory sense there is nothing added to the conversation. Those few words are the idiomatic way of asking for something and since email is similarly unconstrained in space (as opposed to say SMS text), has its roots in traditional letter writing, and is very easy to write people have settled on a form that is somewhat more compact that a regular (dead tree) letter but still long enough that it carries a sense of old-fashioned politeness. Typically this includes a salutation at the top and a signature at the bottom of some sort (usually a standard file). Of course you are free to leave all of that stuff out, but if you write me 'give banana' without any introduction or explanation the only place where your 'instant' email is going to go is the trash bin. So all that flowery stuff actually increases the chances of the message making it through by using a slightly less compact form. Greetings and much good luck with your quest for efficiency. Your truly, Jacques Mattheij

danielson 16y ago
Epic.
sidwyn 16y ago
Thanks for your response. Perhaps I should have put a little more thought before asking. What I meant to ask was "Can Hello XX be done away in replies to friends?" Sometimes the conversation just moves faster when you do without it. Of course in formal emails, it's a requirement.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  Hehe, I goofed on the 'Yours truly' :) In replies if it is the first reply I usually include it, if it is the second or later reply in a series of emails usually it gets omitted unless I don't know the person very well. For instance, even though I've been working with my bookkeeper/tax advisor for 15 years I still will be very formal in almost all of my emails with him. But with my brother it can be 'hey how is it going?' on the first email I send to him in a week. It all depends on circumstances and what you feel comfortable with.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

brudgers 16y ago

Email isn't meant to be instant, even if it is faster than snailmail. Unlike a phone call, it's meant to be disconnected. I find the use of a greeting helps me focus on the intended audience. But I don't care if other people use one.

patio11 16y ago

I'd prefer to think of it as "Nothing I had to do today was more important than reaffirming that I care about our relationship."

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

socialmediaking 16y ago

In my experience, greetings are the easy part, whereas deciding how to close the email is the tough part. In my first correspondence with a contact, I usually end with a formal "thank you, (next line my name). I notice most people don't respond back with the same formality, and so I mirror my structure based on theirs. Does anyone have any tips on this or similar interactions?

getonit 16y ago

Ys, lt's do this. Whil w'r at it, can w stop using th lttr 'e'? I'v nvr rally trustd thm, and it would vastly improv my lif if I didn't hav to s thm as oftn. Thank you all for your futur coopration on this mattr.

wglb 16y ago

Slow down, there pal. They are meant to be transmitted instantly, as opposed to requiring a pony to transport a physical copy. Nothing in the requirements for email says that the content itself is of an "instant" variety. I have written emails that took the better part of a day to compose.

revorad 16y ago

I definitely use a salutation in my first email, but omit it in subsequent replies for the same thread.