[dfboyd]

I am the original author of the document this document was based on. It was an internal Wiki page at Google written when I was an SRE. After I wrote the original page, someone put up an internal shortlink at "go/nohello". After I left Google, someone took the Wiki page content and [illegally, since it was Google confidential, simply from being on the internal Wiki], and put it up on the net at "nohello.com". The linked article at nohello.net is a paraphrase of the nohello.com content; compare the list of salutations (especially "yt?) and the paragraphs at the end mentioning "asynchronous communication". ("yt?" was a favorite of Raymond B---., who was in many ways my mentor at Google and who I'm forever grateful to.)

[shiftpgdn]

I mean it's not an original idea and trying to keep it locked up in Google's internal wiki system isn't doing anyone any favors. Go look at all the posts on /r/sysadmin where everyone says to just ignore the "hello" slack/teams messages.

[benhurmarcel]

I wish you could just configure the app to not notify you for a first "hello" message, unless it's been 5 minutes or something.

While I'm at it, it shouldn't send you multiple notifications for messages arriving in short sequence.

[andai]

> multiple notifications for messages arriving in short sequence

Oh god, I know people who average three words per line, and I just have them permanently muted so my screen doesn't fill up with a giant stack of shit. But then I never hear when they message me, which isn't ideal either, because sometimes it's important.

[benhurmarcel]

This is a common issue, but should be solved by software. The app just shouldn't notify you several times in less than X seconds. Then it wouldn't be a problem at all.

[stefan_]

This was a thing in IRC long before Google existed.

[gkop]

My impression is that the hello messages developed into an unfortunate part of Google’s culture. I entered the industry in 2010 and didn’t run into this practice until 2015, when I began working closely with someone who was recently ex-Google (specifically, “you there?”/“yt?”). She was a super smart and kind person, and it was easy for me to coach her out of it, hence my thinking that she learned the bad habit at Google, and that it was in no way a manifestation of her personality (contrary to the suggestion of some comments in this thread that read more deeply into the behavior).

[fchu]

There was a "go/yeshello" to provide the opposing argument, and later a "go/onlyhello" which is obviously the correct answer

[fragmede]

Is there also an "Only Zuul" response, or is that not the Google way?

( https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/there-is-no-dana-only-zuul )

[0xbadcafebee]

I doubt any judge would consider this confidential information. If you copied the sentence "Apples are red." from an internal wiki, would that be confidential?

[lancebeet]

How do you know it was unauthorized if they copied it from the internal wiki after you left Google?

[dfboyd]

If it had been authorized, presumably they'd have kept my name on it, no?

[sfg]

I'd probably not include the name without the person's permission.

[mgalgs]

This (highly annoying) practice was pervasive at Qualcomm as well, and we had a go/hi with essentially the same content.