Sites like xyproblem.info and nohello.net
Posted by BrianMichaelArthur@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 36 comments
A recent post had a comment about nohello.net and I figured I would ask the hive mind about similar sites to give to people to help with various aspects of this job.
so far:
as a bonus two xkcd that I like sharing in these situations
So what are some other easy to memorize helper sites like this that can really drive home an explanation in full detail.
altodor@reddit
I lean towards the https://aka.ms/nohello version myself, but that's just me.
itishowitisanditbad@reddit
nohello is achieved by just never ever replying to people saying hello.
If you don't reply until they follow up... they figure it out real fast.
malikto44@reddit
In my experience, they run to management, and you wind up being pinged about not being responsive to a user who is now saying that IT is ignoring them, they are not able to do their job, and the productivity loss is causing the company to hemorrhage cash.
It is just a passive-aggressive tool to force someone else to come after the person starting it. Bonus points when they don't answer after you reply, and still complain to management.
itishowitisanditbad@reddit
More like chewed out, I've been chewed out before.
BatemansChainsaw@reddit
It amazes me how many people don't understand how to set boundaries with their userbase as well as management and instead get pissy about it w/o really putting any effort into explaining or training them. Getting them on board with a ticketing system can be a huge pain in the ass but as long as management is on board then stick to it. Getting them on board with messaging more than a "hey/hello" and waiting for a response unfortunately takes some coaching. It's not complicated, but a gentle reminder that it's ok to explain what they need right away and wait is more effective than a verbal dhcp handshake.
From my point of view, most people are used to being ignored and wait for the green light to continue the conversation after an initial statement. There are so many social clues beyond the mere "hey" most people in this career field (who are WILDLY on the autism spectrum) also don't understand that is the poke/prompt where they're waiting for a green light.
To use another car analogy, they've pulled up to the stoplight (hey) and are waiting for you to say something back (the green light).
If you find this frustrating, say something AT THE END OF THEIR REQUEST and after you acknowledge them that "it's ok/fine to tell me what you need right or what is wrong right away without waiting for a reply"
soft skills here are vastly more important in the day to day dealing with coworkers than the hard skills of figuring out which part of the handshake a dhcp request is failing.
and if everyone's being a pain in the ass about it, for fucks sake have a little self respect and either suck it up or find another job.
/rant
Ottaruga@reddit
The problem is that when they're waiting for "the green light", they're really waiting for synchronous communication as if we were talking face to face.
Often times though, their issue could have been easily solved via asynchronous communication with less disruption to both of us.
Now I agree that anyone responding to people with a link to nohello absolutely lacks any understanding of social dynamics. But there's real value to being able to triage, research, and quickly glance at asynchronous communication without needing to sit there staring at a chat window for 3 minutes when I'm finally available for synchronous communication and now they have to actually type out their paragraph of a question.
I could have simply skimmed that request between tasks otherwise, and then responded to them instantly with a solution as soon I had one instead of playing the "when are we both staring at teams" game.
spypsy@reddit
Nah they usually don’t figure it out.
Particular_Archer499@reddit
Agreed. Even had a note for when people contacted me to state what they needed and not just "hello", but that requires reading.
Nova_Aetas@reddit
Just respond with a hello and let it ride
flangepaddle@reddit
I extend this to calls as well. If I don't answer and you don't leave a voicemail or send a follow up message, I don't call back - unless it's my manager!
Problably__Wrong@reddit
I feel like sending one of these to an end user is like the "Smart Asshole" syndrome that a lot of companies deal with for tech people. All these scenarios bother me but, 99% of the time the requestor isn't doing these annoying things with ill intent.
anka_ar@reddit
https://letmegooglethat.com/
http://www.kevinlamont.com/excuses.html
http://shinytoylabs.com/jargon/
https://www.bullshitgenerator.com/ (this one is good with HHRR or Marketing areas)
PC_3@reddit
from the jargon on:
They're inside the processor, use the backup DHCP sensor to parse their array!
dracotrapnet@reddit
LOL dontasktoask. That reminds me, I need a website question.isastatment.com or something
Visual-Ad-4520@reddit
The kind of people who put this in their auto replies at my company are almost exclusively work-shy useless assholes.
itishowitisanditbad@reddit
In auto reply? Absolutely. Those people suck
I wouldn't put any of them in my signature or autoreply or anything like that but I would refer someone to them if it was specifically useful/necessary to do so.
WHich results in it happening about once every couple years.
Which is FAR more reasonable than autoreply, where its broadly being spammed to everyone like its a wildly prevelant issue needing addressing imminently.
Its not.
The people who think it are are insufferable and exactly the type to put it in autoreply/signatures.
The link i'd more want to put in my autoreply/signature is (https://www.computerworld.com/article/2527153/opinion-the-unspoken-truth-about-managing-geeks.html) but even then I just wouldn't because it seems so crass to do that.
Robertsipad@reddit
That it a great article. A lot of it can extend to many other technical and hands-on areas of work.
UtyerTrucki@reddit
Really nice article. Thanks for sharing
moneyfink@reddit
I’ve been trying to find that link for 6 months!!! Thanks so much.
BrianMichaelArthur@reddit (OP)
This is partially on me cause I didn't add a lot of context. This is more for coworkers and people you are training than anything else.
I am not going to send a user a link to xyproblem because they don't know how to ask for what they want, I am going to send that to my L1 tech with no experience so that they understand how to get more information instead of falling into a trap of giving someone what they ask for without more information.
Cause I am curious, what specific sites like this do people you work with have in their signature? I would never think to put any of those links in my signature at work, lol.
Visual-Ad-4520@reddit
The stand out is nohello but i’ve also seen xyproblem a bunch of times. Like you said it’s rather unhelpful as an auto reply!
UpliftingChafe@reddit
Useless or just too busy to help someone too lazy to give good context up front?
Visual-Ad-4520@reddit
Too busy to do any of their day to day responsibilities, think they’re too good to turn up to critical meetings, always the last ones to approve items in ServiceNOW. Just generally being useless overall inside and outside of IMs.
I realise my position is hyperlocal and i recognise that I do work with a very large group of people, so a significant number of them are going to be assholes… but it is a high trend that almost all of the guys at the top tier of assholery use nohello or similar.
I’ll wind my neck in a say I get it and thanks OP for the references.
But yeh when i see these i get TRIGGGEERRREEDDDDDD
Apprehensive_Low3600@reddit
The xkcd efficiency chart is bunk. If you're making a task more efficient it's probably via automation, and if you're only looking at automation in terms of time saved you're ignoring the other major benefit of automation, which is consistency. Automating a task that takes one minute once a year is absolutely worth investing time into if that task is important, because it removes error margin, which is higher than average on something you do infrequently.
BrianMichaelArthur@reddit (OP)
Every time I share that chart with people I always add a 3rd axis of "how prone to error is the task" or something to that effect. If the likelihood of failing when done manually is really high, then the value from automation goes up tremendously.
Also from my own personal experience this is used in situations where nearly zero automation is present so the chart is still a great stepping stone into how to approach a target for automation.
thenewguyonreddit@reddit
Gonna go against the grain here and state that these are all snarky, antisocial, and cringe as hell.
IT already has a reputation of being full of low-EQ people with poor social skills, and sites like these pretty much reinforce that stereotype.
Not a fan.
Nova_Aetas@reddit
I’ve given up on mentioning the good-social-skills solution here because I get downvoted every time.
This shit is a funny idea in passing but extremely short sighted if you take it seriously.
PhillAholic@reddit
I agree 100% with the idea, I’d never respond to someone with it.
Horace-Harkness@reddit
https://isitreadonlyfriday.com/
AirCaptainDanforth@reddit
Thanks for sharing
logoth@reddit
Part of me loves no hello, part of me hates it. If I'm in the groove on a project and someone messages me "hey can you fix blah blah blah", I'll see it and start thinking about their request, potentially derailing my train of thought for hours. If they say "hey, got a few?" (or any variation), I can usually reply with "not until X time", and stay productive. On the other hand, sometimes... just tell me your problem and let me fix it without saying hi.
I realize this is a problem with how easily I am sometimes derailed, but because of it, I don't chastise anyone for going with EITHER method.
1Original1@reddit
I think there's nuance to this
On one side you have "Hello" and they wait for a reply,that deserves a solid Nohello
On the other side you have "Hi do you have 5/10/15min for a question/troubleshooting/meeting?" This is fine
logoth@reddit
Good point on the nuance, I'd agree with that.
mr_data_lore@reddit
I don't need any of these sites. If you send me just a hello, your message just gets ignored/deleted.
ka-splam@reddit
"help" indeed :|
WhAt HaVe YoU TrIeD which became What have you tried epidemic and lead to the author writing a regret article about it.
(later, he erased the article and made it go away).
A site I've kept open in a browser tab to read oneday: https://artoftroubleshooting.com/
sevenstars747@reddit
http://three.sentenc.es/