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by colanderman 3022 days ago
My solution to this problem is (1) avoid instant messaging at all costs, and (2) delay responding to any mail that is either (a) a contextless plea for handholding ("I have a problem, do you have some time?"), or (b) best solved by the asker taking some time to educate themselves.

It's a win-win, because either the asker learns they can solve their problems more quickly by Googling it themselves, or I can limit my responses to a rate that is below my daily (or weekly) annoyance threshold.
2 comments
jiryu 3021 days ago
"Avoid instant messaging at all costs" is definitely good advice. I usually forget to take three breaths before answering there, but I usually remember before I answer an email. Plus, I have GMail's "undo send" feature enabled so I have a few more secrets to repent before my message cannot be untyped.
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aldanor 3022 days ago
+1 to not logging on to the company’s IM. Emailing somehow feels more ‘persistent’ so it’s unlikely that conversation like the one above would have happened in an email thread. Or, people have to come and talk to you in person; in which case they will probably think twice first and maybe solve the problem on their own in the process.
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