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When / why / how did "I hope you are well" become a standard email intro? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by oxjox@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Practically every email I've received in maybe the past year has started with "I hope you are well". I even had an LLM draft a placeholder email for me and it started with the same thing. This has not always been the case and it's strange to me that everyone I interact with begins their emails with this line. Frankly, it's annoying AF.

What gives? Who started this? Why has it become so prevalent? More importantly, how do we stop it?

While I'm at it, if you work in tech / customer support, I urge you to speak with your supervisors to minimize the boiler plate copy paste trash you insert into your emails. People dealing with shit that's not working as intended or desired do not have the mental or emotional capacity to wade through your platitudinal nonsense. Get to the fucking point.

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[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 37 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I started it in 1995 because I thought it would be nice to kind.

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago

I read your original Usenet post in 1995 but, because you never used punctuation back then, I thought you were trying to say,

I hope you are, well...

and took it as passive aggressive. Long have I blamed you, internet stranger. Now I must beg your forgiveness and hope, if hope not be lost, that you yourself are, well, well.