HN

Comments (56)

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  thombles
  A low-risk way to dip your toes in is to email a blogger to say that you enjoyed their post or that you found it helpful. The message doesn’t have to have useful information in it, just be sincere. Per OP, often there won’t be a reply but also often it’s much appreciated - particularly by non-mainstream writers.
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  zenoprax
  I have emailed people based on a YouTube video, podcast episode, blog post, or just browsing a project on GitHub. If their email address is available I see that as permission to contact them for "wholesome" purposes. A few things that come to mind:1. clarification on something in particular that they have already published2. engage in genuine discussion about adjacent topics in which their opinion is specifically relevant3. expressions of appreciation4. corrections of information to prevent genuine harm or significant frustration for othersMy success rate is probably 50-75% but I only do it a few times per year.Cold-calling to get people try try your new app or answer a survey is rude.
• boricj
  I've received a couple of emails about ghidra-delinker-extension, but I would not limit this to only emails. I've also had numerous people contacting me through GitHub issues or Discord messages over the years, with this as a topic starter.I've had deep technical exchanges with smart people all across the world I would've never met otherwise. I've seen people using my tool for completely insane projects successfully. I've even had a data scientist from India who was inspired and motivated by my story of presenting at ACM 2025 as a hobbyist to put his work out there.Interacting with all these people has broadened my horizons - literally going halfway across the globe in one instance. All of that happened despite me being an introvert, who hates initiating any form of social interactions with people and sounds like a raving lunatic on my blog.Maybe I should be the one to send out more emails...
• vandahm
  I think the last time I emailed a stranger when I had no business reason to do so was to thank someone for creating an excellent set of instructions for running OpenBSD on the exact model of laptop I wanted to use. I didn't expect a response and I didn't receive a response. I just thought he should know that something he did helped someone else, and now he knows.
• jdw64
  Maybe it's because I'm a negative person, but even when I do keep in touch with people, I can count those I've stayed in long term contact with on one hand.And the knowledge I can offer others is also limited.
• foxfired
  Whenever I write something that gets some traction, I get emails. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. One of them is from a guy that tells me "I love your blog, but you got terrible spelling." If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't bother doing a spellcheck before publishing.
• aryehof
  Email them because most people these days never receive a personal email from another real human being, instead of newsletters, solicitations, marketing, announcements, notifications and spam.
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  Waterluvian
  I’ve had about 10 emails about things I’ve said or presented on this website. I haven’t replied to all of them, which makes me feel bad because each one of them was a nice little surprise on any random day. I worry that no response makes people feel bad. I just can’t respond sometimes because of the anxiety I struggle with. But gosh do I love hearing from strangers about anything. I bet if I can get more comfortable talking with strangers I’ll really enjoy being old one day.
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  vaibhavkul
  Forget emailing strangers, I have a hard time talking to my neighbours.
• landdate
  > The first time I emailed a stranger, I swear my cursor hovered over Send for a full five minutes.I would estimate communication is 95% non verbal and 5% verbal. The problem with online interaction is you are limited to this 5% while interacting with an almost infinite number of social groups and people.Learning how to adapt to online socialization is learning how to adapt to being blind. Only you aren't blind, you are choosing to wear a blindfold.
• boznz
  I receive a dozen or so emails a year from people who read my free sci-fi books. they are generally to say thanks, or to point out spelling errors or something factually incorrect that I have usually fixed. Most are shocked I reply. I guess quite a few also get zapped by my aggressive spam filters, which with the amount of spam I get is going to make it a real problem in the future.
• anon
  undefined
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  ayaros
  You can email anyone if there's something you need to communicate to them. Since when was it ever a big deal to email someone you don't know?
• nuclearsugar
  I agree with this and have received insights on difficult challenges, but I've found that each year it gets more difficult to find an email address for someone.
• sn0n
  I read a whole article about how cool it is to email people and I’m opening to the idea… then I see the signature and realize it’s probably just a cheap way to get dates, that come to him.
• nxy
  I email strangers all the time relating to my businesses. But for "personal" time? Gives me the shivers.
• RyJones
  I emailed Lenstra about some ancient history, we had a nice chat.RSA129 - I have a color copy of the prize check. I asked how many he sent out.
• truetraveller
  What's the best way to contact someone about to get real feedback on a paid app / SaaS? Give them a free license? Mention something specific about them, so they knew you actually cared enough to check out that person and manually write the email?
• paulpauper
  Their silence says nothing about your worth. They might be busy, taking a break from email, or not in a place where they can engage with new folk…who knows? And what does it matter?Or it gets filtered as spam. very common
• schmookeeg
  I assumed this was a longform "Ode to Spam"...I'm still not sure it isn't. :)
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  superkuh
  I used to. I do much less now that email is no longer available for whois results from domains because of GDPR. It really killed communication on the internet. The switch to non-protocol based corporate communication services was the other half of killing it.
• jasonmp85
  [dead]
• aaron695
  [dead]
• bbondo
  > Allow me to explain.No.
• TurdF3rguson
  He's right, we really have forgotten that email can just be about reaching out to strangers for honest communication.Maybe I'll have Claude send him a thank you.