Instant Messaging & Email Etiquette Tips for Bloggers

Filched in its entriety from ProBlogger.net, this says exactly what needs to be said, nicely but in a straightforward way. Instant Messaging Etiquette Tips for Bloggers is a great post - and boy is he right on target with these  points:

"If you’re going to ask questions at least make some attempt to find the answers for yourself first - . . . It might be a good idea to head to their blog before you IM them and do a search for the information you’re looking for. "

"At least make an attempt to do this before asking your question - you’ll probably find they’ve answered the question at least once already on their blog." 

It's something I also encounter in online groups and in email. And it never ceases to amaze me.  "What's Macrame?"  "How do you make papier mache?" "What's an Altoids box?"

huh? . . .

What are they thinking? Wouldn't you try to find the answer yourself first? Is there an entire generation - or two - that insist on being spoon fed?

I never say this stuff in reply - my family valued politeness above probably any other trait - but I feel like saying "Have you heard of Google?" or "Did you put that term in the search box at technorati?" and maybe "What did Yahoo Search say?"

Here's what I want to know:

1. Why write to me asking: "What's Raku?" when Googling "raku" will give you a list of informative sites as long as my arm. Heck, even Wikipedia defines and illustrates Raku
2. Why ask "What's a Trackback?" when Wikipedia, already writes more than I could and a technorati search of blogs talking about specific phrase" what is a trackback" produces a long list including multiple sides of the story

In my case this guideline / pet peeve applies to email too. I know, I'm being sensitive but to me it's maddening. Do the questioners not think that maybe fifty other people are asking the same kind of thing and it might occupy three hours of the afternoon to respond to all of them?

Backstory:

On and off since the seventies I have worked at home, sometimes more sometimes less. Now it's gotten to the "always" stage and I can blog, and make art, and help new bloggers while in my jammies but at some point I have to find time to take a shower, brush my teeth, fill the cat bowl and grab a cold piece of pizza from the fridge, instead of addressing e-mail on issues that could be researched by the questioner.

But a steady theme running through the years is that people would a.) call mid-day to chat about nothing; b.) ask me to let the plumber into their house two blocks away "sometime between noon and four" - plus - c.) they thought I was the perfect candidate to pick up their sick child at school.

Why?  Because "you're at home, after all!"

So over the course of maybe five to ten years I disciplined myself to consider my work day sacrosanct. I began to subtly - or sometimes more frankly - let it be known that yes I was at home but I did not answer the phone while writing or creating in the studio, or had students with me.

It was hard to learn to say that I was working and would have to chat over the weekend or at the kid's t-ball game Thursday night. But it happened and I'm better today for having learned to do it.

It just gives me more time to put up my feet and eat bon-bons or whatever it is people assume I'm doing.

During the "retraining process" - both other people and ME - sometimes I was asked directly why I was being (difficult, picky, unhelpful, pick an adjective). In response I just told the truth

a.) I get easily thrown off track if disrupted
b.) one five minute interruption is workable but on days when there are ten interruptions that eat up an hour and a half, it's crazy making - plus-
c.) I don't want to be writing or painting or whatever the current project is at midnight because during the day someone wanted to chat about what their knitting group was doing and why I thought their lawn had weeds.

Some people took it well. More people were perplexed about what the big deal was. But now that it has become something I address matter of factly, as if I was performing brain surgery during the day, it's been a lot easier to handle.

And it seems to be both a.) on my end - because I don't feel uncomfortable making the ground rules of working at home clear to people - and b.) for others - probably that's because I am comfortable and matter of fact about it.

With Darren's Etiquette post however, I've got a whole new arsenal of defense ready to deploy if needed.

I just SO love other bloggers. A big hug out to Darren to thank him for posting that. But no hugging during his working time!

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This post is linked at Stuck on Stupid - OTA Wednesday - Diane's Stuff - Morning Light

Comments

[Susan Reynolds]

Brilliant tactic Helen. And if we don't really have a lot of stuff to "demonstrate" how overwhelmed we are, maybe we should take up schlepping a breifcase filled secretly with lightweight fiberfill batting but with a nicely designed display of corners of multiple pages of "stuff" sticking out as a show of serious lverload. Hey - this could get me on that inventors show that I've heard about but never seen - since I'm always working!

And trying to develop that nice deep brow furrow that my husband and one of the daughters have done so well lith would probably be impressive too - and do double duty. They look both serious AND too busy to bother. :-)

[Hsien Lei]

Oh my goodness. I'm getting slowly trapped by other people's demands as well and have been subtly (or not?!) letting people know that I work from home and need every second to get all my stuff done. If there's no easy segue, I always find some way of letting people see my big pile of work so that they'll ask what I'm working on and what I do. :D