Private Message Etiquette

All,

I wish I didn't have to post this reminder to everyone, but it seems as though it is necessarily. When you decide you want advice and elect to send a private message, PLEASE do not copy and paste your message and PM it to every user with X,XXX bananas. If you want advice from a broad audience, post it on the forum so that everyone can benefit from the responses. By sending the same PM to ten different users, you are not only using up ten people's valuable time, but you're likely to simply get the same response 10x over. The truth is that the frequent contributors to this forum talk to each other and we know that this sort of activity is happening often.

If you are dead set on getting catered advice from a select set of users, I suggest you post your question in the appropriate section and then send a PM to the individual asking them to comment -- and be sure to include a link to your post. This way everybody wins.

13 Comments
 

CB (and every1 with X,XXX+ posts), cans I be investment banker or private equitier if get 1,000 posts on WSO??/

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
mas1987CB (and every1 with X,XXX+ posts), cans I be investment banker or private equitier if get 1,000 posts on WSO??/

Depends. Are those bananas from a target plant? That always help.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 
Best Response

I second CompBanker's point. Many of "the regulars" on these boards talk often, even offline and outside of WSO. If you send 10 of us a cut and paste PM, we'll put it together pretty quickly. It's not that we are unwilling to help, but it is a little disrespectful to put the onus of response on all of us individually with a PM that appears to be personal but is in fact a form letter. Also, chances are you'll get a better discussion if you post your question as a thread and ask us to comment, as CompBanker said. I'm much more likely to write a thoughtful response if I think others besides just you may benefit from it.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

I agree with CompBanker, but I tend to be more forgiving. I don't care if people message me, just say thanks when it is done.

Being polite can get you a long way.

 
ClarkeyComp,

Am I guilty of this?

Nope. Unless you sent that question to a whole bunch of different people -- however I don't think that would have made much sense given the specific knowledge I have regarding your particular situation. I'll let you be the judge!
CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

I think it would be appropriate for you to PM him, CaptK, Midas, and Anthony that question.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

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"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee

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