E-mails starting without greeting, just name

Freefaller · 5 Jul 2017 at 15:46

Fairly standard in business now.

I always tend to go "Hi xxxxx" - but that's me.

Blackvault · 14 Jul 2017 at 10:42

I always start my emails with Hello/Hi name.... and finish internal ones with Regards Pete and customer facing with Regards Peter.

It does annoy me when people don't start emails with a simple Hello/Hi xxxx.

Caged · 14 Jul 2017 at 22:51

I barely bother opening the message or signing it off for internal messages - just get to the point, there's enough to deal with as it is.

External messages will get a "Hi <Name>"

Dan103 · 17 Jul 2017 at 12:32

as long as my name is correct. I see it more and more

crazy8s · 23 Jul 2017 at 13:46

Bit trivial, everyone has their own style.

If what I want to say is short enough, I'll write the whole email in the subject.

datalol-jack · 23 Jul 2017 at 14:33

Came over from chat, texting and normal conversational use. Recall, if you will, that email is a very informal and immediate medium. So we have...

'Dear Mr Pedant,

May I impose upon your time with my luminous presence at three o'clock, this fine afternoon? Verily, I say, our scheme for this weekend's mass copulation and carousing event at the Dog and Seaman is ill advised given the scandalous coverage of our last outing in the popular press!

There is much to discuss.

Yours completely and sincerely,
The twinkle in your eye,
Your Boswell,
Lord Snooty Hoops'

vs.

'John, got a minute?'

Over time, the drift is towards the latter. Why? Time, once again. Everyone's got a job to do and hundreds of emails to skim through daily.

D3K · 23 Jul 2017 at 14:56

datalol-jack said:
Everyone's got a job to do and hundreds of emails to skim through daily.

Massive generalisation here.

Your post was a cherry picked scenario which essentially negates the need for politeness, and also implies you have some familiarity with the person. Try the "John, you're going into the sewers tomorrow", with a CC list including your boss and a plethora of others, for a diametrically opposite example.

Two letters and a space: "Hi " is not a massive undertaking for something which has a positive effect on a percentage of the workforce, especially when the familiarity level is quite low. If this doesn't trigger your personal politeness alarm, but you are aware of it, why not just add it? I'm sure most of us don't give a hoot about elbows on tables, but don't do it because it's regarded as impolite.

datalol-jack · 23 Jul 2017 at 15:37

D3K said:
Massive generalisation here.

Your post was a cherry picked scenario which essentially negates the need for politeness, and also implies you have some familiarity with the person. Try the "John, you're going into the sewers tomorrow", with a CC list including your boss and a plethora of others, for a diametrically opposite example.

Two letters and a space: "Hi " is not a massive undertaking for something which has a positive effect on a percentage of the workforce, especially when the familiarity level is quite low. If this doesn't trigger your personal politeness alarm, but you are aware of it, why not just add it? I'm sure most of us don't give a hoot about elbows on tables, but don't do it because it's regarded as impolite.

I have seen worse, and from people who should know the when, the what and the how of written text. Social norms drift over time.

It was fairly rude to say 'Hi X' back in the day and overly familiar, with several greetings divided by category of occasion, time of day and level of politeness in circulation (and who can forget the full range of titles, especially for women!). Now the construction is gaining in common use and even more formal contexts, with archaic forms being seen as pretentious. Ties are vanishing from mens' necks; beards are still with us; women lead; and so on.

Technology makes this process more rapid precisely because the time to reach an understanding is contracted (email + social media: seconds; snail mail: could take weeks). There's also an element of depersonalisation in this: you'll likely never speak to John; John knows that going into the sewers is his job and will be going down there anyway; neither you nor John have much choice over the communication, driven as it is by a work process; tomorrow you'll be dealing with hundreds of other Johns, who may be all over the world; so if you don't mean it, don't say it, and show respect by saving the other party's time by getting to the point.

In the end, you can hiss with resentment or get with the programme to focus your energy on what counts - the message. There's more to communication than artificial politeness, and indeed it's the artificial nature of canned greetings and replies that's seeing them drop - they're taken as a given. It's a matter of sound judgement too: know yourself, your audience and realise there may not be a consensus or a 'rule' for everything in life.

Mr Badger · 23 Jul 2017 at 16:38

randomshenans said:
Some company keeps emailing me addressing me as Nicholas. My email is my name, and it's Ross. My surname is nowhere near Nicholas, too, so I find it very annoying.

Vote randomshenans user name change to Nicholas

randomshenans · 24 Jul 2017 at 09:44

Mr Badger said:
Vote randomshenans user name change to Nicholas

Ha. They obviously bought my info from somewhere, as it's spread. I keep getting emails to ******* Nicholas. MY EMAIL IS MY ******* NAME YOU MORONS!!!

Hotwired · 24 Jul 2017 at 09:54

randomshenans said:
Ha. They obviously bought my info from somewhere, as it's spread. I keep getting emails to ******* Nicholas. MY EMAIL IS MY ******* NAME YOU MORONS!!!

I do that on purpose, any time I'm forced to give details I don't especially want to it's a fake name or words which are not a name at all.

If I ever see it come back again it's an easier warning sign than usual.