What should I do about these two types of messages?

[Adelaide]

I have a Tumblr account and I post regularly about all sorts of things, some of them being fitness, weight loss, and martial arts. I have several followers and lately I have been flooded with these two types of private messages:

1. One-word messages. "Hi." or "Whassup." Part of me thinks that if you want to speak to someone, you wouldn't just walk up to them and say "Hi," you'd get the ball rolling yourself. So far I've decided not to answer one-word messages that want me to do all the communication work-these are always from people I've never spoken to. Is it rude to just flat-out not answer?

2. Along the same vein, I recently made a post saying that I wanted to talk with someone around my stats (age/height/weight-wise) about healthy eating and recipes and such. In my post I made it very clear that I only wanted to stay in contact with people who fit into x, y, and z categories. This is for a variety of reasons, most of them being ability to relate/talk strategy about shared characteristics. I have been getting a whole lot of messages from people saying "Hey, I know I don't fit what you're looking for, but..." or "Hey, I'm not doing any of the stuff you're doing, but...." who want to keep in contact with me. Either that, or they act like they never saw anything but the title of the post and launch into how they're a, b, and c (where I'm x, y, and z) and they would totally love to talk to me. My rationale has always been that I can talk to anyone on my blog (through reblogging posts/asking and answering questions) but I like to message people who are going through/went through the same things as I am. Is it rude to ignore these types of messages? Is there a polite way to reply that still lets them know that they're ignoring what I asked for? This is kind of like MariaE's post about adding friends-but in my case, the person didn't just hit a "friend" button, they wrote a message to me specifically.

[Zilla]

I would ignore both messages.  And this to prevent opening a dialog which will give them a way in.


Especially to the number 1 types of messages.


With the number 2 messages, if the message is nicely worded and clearly misunderstanding your post, you can maybe respond saying I was looking for X Y and Z but good luck type response.  But it isn't needed.


Good luck!

[Hmmmmm]

POD to above.

[JenJay]

If you want to respond I think "Hello" to the first type and "Thank you for your offer, but right now I'm focused on working with people who have the same stats as me." are both fine responses. If you don't want to respond, that's okay too.

[Tea Drinker]

I don't have a Tumblr, but from my experience elsewhere on the web, those one-word messages from strangers feel like spam: they're likely hoping to get your attention so you'll read their ads, or reblog stuff of theirs. (It's like the periodic almost-identical "Hey, add me so we can chat" messages I get from strangers on Yahoo Messenger--which I only use because it's the chat my brother set up for our mother, and I can juggle four chat programs more easily than Mom could two.)

[Cat-Fu]

I definitely agree w/ Tea Drinker, but I go one step more and say that both types of message are basically spam to get you to their tumblr. The people with one-word messages are just lazier about it.

I'd just ignore.

[Queen of Clubs]

(It's like the periodic almost-identical "Hey, add me so we can chat" messages I get from strangers on Yahoo Messenger--which I only use because it's the chat my brother set up for our mother, and I can juggle four chat programs more easily than Mom could two.)

On Yahoo Messenger, you can set your preferences so no one except those on your friends' list can IM you.  Open your YM friends' list, click 'messenger' at the top, then 'preferences', then 'ignore list'.  You'll have the option to 'ignore anyone who is not in my Yahoo contacts' or 'ignore only the people below'.  I don't get any IM spams now.

To the OP, I'd reply to the second lot stating you're looking for people with XYZ, but ignore the first lot.  They just sound like spam to me too.

[NotTheNarcissist]

I would ignore those. As time goes on you'll be able to tell if there is one that deserves to be responded to. Seriously..... I direct tweet to bloggers & email bloggers fairly regularly & they rarely respond. I am pleased when they do but I don't expect a response. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to respond - not worth it!