No Hello / Hi / Yo / Whadap!

Please don't say just hello in chat

Imagine calling someone on the phone, going "hello!" then putting them on hold... 🤦‍♀️
❌ Don't do this:

Keith could have got his answer minutes sooner, and needn't have kept Tim waiting. Tim could've started thinking about the question right away!

People who do this are usually trying to be polite — like in person or on the phone — and that's great! But chat is different. Typing is slower than talking, and waiting on "hi" just wastes time.

The same goes for:

"Hello, are you around?"
"hi sophie - quick question."
"You got a sec?"
"yt?"
"ping"

✅ Instead, just ask your question right away:

If it feels too blunt, you can still be friendly while getting to the point:

"hey man, what's up? also, any idea when that thing's due?"
"Hi there! Hope you're well. I'm after the latest deck, when you get a sec :)"
"hey, if you're not busy, could you update those NFRs?"

It might seem small, but asking your question right away helps with async communication too. If the other person's away, they can still answer later instead of coming back to just "Hello".

When done right - everyone's happy! 🎉

This is kinda only half serious (kinda 👀) — so please don't get mad at the person who sent you here.

That said, if you see this site's URL as someone's status or bio, be prepared to be ignored if you only say "Hello!"

Based on the not-so-wonderful nohello.net, which was based on the wonderful nothello.com. Original source for nohello.net on GitHub.