This probably harkens back to Ye Olde Hacker Etiquette Filtere. There is (or was) a known issue wherein hackers had their wetwired internal "polite" circuit reversed, so <em>input</em> was subjected to the "rude-block" filter. Most people have this circuit set on <em>output</em>. So when hackers say something like, "Hey, poophead, you borked up that code for the lpt reset. I fixed it for you," the receipient hears, "I fixed the lpt reset code." Other, non-hackers hear, "Hey poophead ... [tech stuff] ... I corrected your work for you." Non-techies can get pretty flustered by the rough, candid talk that hackers use, not realizing that all hackers have the circuit reversed so that such rough language is essentially ignored.
Some find the naked ping is a simple online corollary of "hi....!" while others see it as an interruption that is followed by silence. Is the naked ping any better than, "Ping ... hey I can't figure out how to make my mail cert work on my smartphone, i saw that you had this issue and resolved it, can you walk me through the steps you took, that is if you're not too busy, hey are you even there, are you typing a reply already, gee I guess not, well, sorry to bother you, see ya l8r g8r."
I really think neither is better or worse, it depends upon the recipient, and since the sender can't know which way the recipient's etiquette filter is installed, it's aways a flip of the coin whether the naked ping is "nice" or "naughty."
I tend to think recipients need to loosen up. Responding "sorry, busy now, will get back to you l8r" isn't hard, and shifts the issue of the politeness filter back on the sender. If the ping is stale (has been there while recipient was AFK), it can be answered or ignored.
Melanie's right, it's only annoying to those who're annoyed by a missed call on their phone ... if you call that number back and get someone other than the person who called you (e.g. "I don't know who called you, I didn't place that call"), or get no answer, then it's a little annoying, this is why I don't return missed calls any more unless I know who called.
Same with pings. I answer if I feel like it, or care about the sender. Otherwise, I ignore. Sometimes I answer, and then close the window in 2 minutes. The limitations of IRC don't let you know if that person is there, typing, whatever, so I don't wait to find out.
Authored Comments
This probably harkens back to Ye Olde Hacker Etiquette Filtere. There is (or was) a known issue wherein hackers had their wetwired internal "polite" circuit reversed, so <em>input</em> was subjected to the "rude-block" filter. Most people have this circuit set on <em>output</em>. So when hackers say something like, "Hey, poophead, you borked up that code for the lpt reset. I fixed it for you," the receipient hears, "I fixed the lpt reset code." Other, non-hackers hear, "Hey poophead ... [tech stuff] ... I corrected your work for you." Non-techies can get pretty flustered by the rough, candid talk that hackers use, not realizing that all hackers have the circuit reversed so that such rough language is essentially ignored.
Some find the naked ping is a simple online corollary of "hi....!" while others see it as an interruption that is followed by silence. Is the naked ping any better than, "Ping ... hey I can't figure out how to make my mail cert work on my smartphone, i saw that you had this issue and resolved it, can you walk me through the steps you took, that is if you're not too busy, hey are you even there, are you typing a reply already, gee I guess not, well, sorry to bother you, see ya l8r g8r."
I really think neither is better or worse, it depends upon the recipient, and since the sender can't know which way the recipient's etiquette filter is installed, it's aways a flip of the coin whether the naked ping is "nice" or "naughty."
I tend to think recipients need to loosen up. Responding "sorry, busy now, will get back to you l8r" isn't hard, and shifts the issue of the politeness filter back on the sender. If the ping is stale (has been there while recipient was AFK), it can be answered or ignored.
Melanie's right, it's only annoying to those who're annoyed by a missed call on their phone ... if you call that number back and get someone other than the person who called you (e.g. "I don't know who called you, I didn't place that call"), or get no answer, then it's a little annoying, this is why I don't return missed calls any more unless I know who called.
Same with pings. I answer if I feel like it, or care about the sender. Otherwise, I ignore. Sometimes I answer, and then close the window in 2 minutes. The limitations of IRC don't let you know if that person is there, typing, whatever, so I don't wait to find out.