Why I email complete strangers

Obviously different people have different time and attention; they don't all get back to you.

But it really doesn't take very long to just throw together a note sharing your thoughts or questions for them you may have. They may not answer. But they might.

If it does fail though, I've also been finding that asking an LLM what so and so would say to whatever I have to share can sometimes be insightful and based on their public comments. Though obviously, probably best not to hold what an LLM said against the person the LLM said might say it...

1. clarification on something in particular that they have already published

2. engage in genuine discussion about adjacent topics in which their opinion is specifically relevant

3. expressions of appreciation

4. corrections of information to prevent genuine harm or significant frustration for others

My 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.

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...

Here are my reasons, copied from my site's "Standing Invitation" [0].

> Email me just because (not just for work). Whatever feeds your curiosity; silly, fun, nerdy, serious.

> Why?

> 1. Do unto me what I have done unto others. I habitually cold-email anyone who moves me in some way (joy, insight, utility, mind shift…). I also love to receive such email!

> 2. There is too little unsolicited positive feedback in much of most of our lives. At some point in the fuzzy past, I decided enough was enough. At least someone somewhere ought to feel good sometime for no reason whatsoever. Since that realisation, I have cold-emailed people willy-nilly. See also: Saying Thank You [1], and Days Are Easily Made [2].

> 3. It's always been a delight; no regrets. You should try it too!

> So, let serendipity reign; write away!

[0] https://www.evalapply.org/about.html#standing-invitation

[1] https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2022/saying-thank-you/

[2] https://www.autodidacts.io/how-to-make-someones-day/

And the knowledge I can offer others is also limited.

Instead, I’ve received a few emails that seemed like copy-and-paste sales pitches, so I naturally became wary of emails from strangers, thinking, “Oh, another sales pitch…”

But I had no idea there were people out there who thought this way! Thank you for introducing me to this new way of thinking.

I do use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and Proton mail for various things but I also run my own email server for some things (mostly personal), which I've done since the mid-late 1990's and plan to continue doing so. Because I control it and I feel that gives me a small bit of power compared to the trillion dollar companies.

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.

not to make this yet another 'in the age of AI' comment, but i can't help myself: given how cold and barren the mainstream internet feels now, cold emailing strangers in a non-transactional way is a humanitarian act. when i get emails from strangers about my own personal blog it makes me feel a little brighter about things for like an hour after. it's why i keep my email on my blog, despite the occasional spam/anonymous hate

RSA129 - I have a color copy of the prize check. I asked how many he sent out.

I still somewhat like the email format, but I am also unable to deal with it, accumulating literally thousand of unread (non-spam) emails. I just can't keep up with the volume. I saw others use clients such as mutt or what not, and read through email on the terminal, so perhaps I should do that, but this is never the bottle neck for me. It is writing replies that is the bottleneck; it takes too much time away. I also need to think before writing, which is another bottleneck. I am very bad at thinking.

Or it gets filtered as spam. very common

...I'm still not sure it isn't. :)

No.

Maybe I'll have Claude send him a thank you.