messages ยท post 03 of 7 in this channel
What to write in a WeTheNorth message, and what to leave out
The best message here is boring, brief and answerable in one line. Almost nobody writes one.
the three wethenorth market addresses
hn2paw7zfvndw3dovycegeqmvvnf4pl67b3g2p7pohjlzavloosh73id.onionhn2paw7zrgujyhnt6mgxlt2q6uhgbke4itpqitxhyfbumq3wtnckbuyd.onionhn2paw7zadwkcra3qzv5e4q547i7e5lvxm62cfxqftuqdu7moiu2ceyd.onionprinted the way they were handed over. no labels, no numbering, nothing here says which one to try first. this feed never opens them, so it has no status light, no percentage and no date of checking to give you.
the shape of a good one
What it is about, what the situation is, what you are asking for. Three parts, one or two sentences each, and then it ends.
If you can put the actual question in the first line, do. The reader is going through a queue and the ones that are instantly answerable get answered first.
what never belongs in it
Where you are. What you do. Your schedule. Your circumstances. Why you need something. What is going on in your life. Anything about the delivery beyond what is required.
None of that changes the answer to your question. All of it describes you, and it sits in a message box permanently.
This is the same instinct covered in writing too much, and messages are where it appears most often because writing feels like talking.
why explanations creep in
Because asking for something feels rude without a reason, and everyone has been trained to soften requests with context.
On this market the softening is the expensive part. A vendor does not need to know why. They need to know what.
Politeness costs nothing when it is one word. It costs a great deal when it is a paragraph about your week.
write for the third reader
Assume a stranger from the market will read this thread during a dispute. That is not paranoia, it is the actual process described in how a dispute runs.
A calm specific message reads well to that person. A long emotional one reads badly, even when the underlying complaint is completely correct.
You are writing evidence with a delay fuse on it, every time.
one message, then stop
Send it once. Do not follow up an hour later, do not add a second thought, do not send a shorter version because the first felt too long.
Multiple messages fragment the question and make it harder to answer, which makes the reply slower, which produces more messages.
the register
Plain and neutral. Not chummy, not cold, not aggrieved. You are not building a relationship and you are not filing a complaint, you are asking a question.
Read it back once and delete the sentence that is doing the least work. There is always one, and it is usually the one about you.
Then read the first line on its own. If somebody answered only that line, would you have what you needed? If yes, the message is finished. If no, the question is buried and needs to move up.
Two passes, about thirty seconds, and it improves almost every message anybody sends on any market.
The thirty seconds is the point. Nothing in this post asks you to be a different kind of person, it asks you to reread once before pressing send, which is a habit rather than a virtue.
replies
a reader askedIs it rude to write such short messages?
the answerIt reads as competent rather than rude to anyone processing a queue. Brevity is a courtesy in a medium where every reply costs somebody time.
a reader askedWhat if I genuinely need to explain the situation?
the answerThen explain the situation and not the circumstances. What happened with the order is relevant. What is happening with you is not, and the two get bundled together without anyone noticing.
a reader askedShould I encrypt an ordinary question?
the answerIt does no harm and it costs a little effort. The important thing is that anything sensitive is encrypted, and the rest is your preference.
what this post is not Not a set of templates. Copied wording reads exactly like copied wording, and the person reading it has seen the same paragraph many times before.