I get people emailing me math questions every once in awhile. I never answer them (I strongly prefer to answer math questions in a public forum like Quora or StackExchange), but some of them are at least tempting. I am actively turned off by any attempt on their part to use flattery, and those are never tempting. It always sounds fake to me. (Also, some of them call me a professor on accident and that’s annoying too.)
(I strongly prefer to answer math questions in a public forum like Quora or StackExchange)
Though in this case iarwain1′s questions aren’t “the type that [...] can get answers by posting on Quora or even specialty forums”, at least in their own judgement.
I am actively turned off by any attempt on their part to use flattery, and those are never tempting. It always sounds fake to me. (Also, some of them call me a professor on accident and that’s annoying too.)
As another data point, I’m open to (mild, proportional) flattery but am also annoyed when people call me a professor by accident (it compels me to point out I’m not a professor, and demonstrates a lack of the cluefulness Lumifer refers to).
I get people emailing me math questions every once in awhile. I never answer them (I strongly prefer to answer math questions in a public forum like Quora or StackExchange), but some of them are at least tempting. I am actively turned off by any attempt on their part to use flattery, and those are never tempting. It always sounds fake to me. (Also, some of them call me a professor on accident and that’s annoying too.)
Same here.
Journals will call me professor on accident and it’s also incredibly annoying.
Though in this case iarwain1′s questions aren’t “the type that [...] can get answers by posting on Quora or even specialty forums”, at least in their own judgement.
As another data point, I’m open to (mild, proportional) flattery but am also annoyed when people call me a professor by accident (it compels me to point out I’m not a professor, and demonstrates a lack of the cluefulness Lumifer refers to).