There's a difference between having niceties and content in one message:
> Good morning! When I foo the bar, I expect it to baz, as per documentation at <link>, but it seems to be drizzling instead. Could you please tell me if it's me doing something wrong, or there is a bug in bar that prevents me from fooing it? Thank you!
Compare this with the typical annoying IM exchange that happens across multiple timezones (EU ↔ India seems to be the worst):
<Mar 01 2021 05:59> Them: Hi
<Mar 01 2021 10:00> Me: Hi, what's up?
<Mar 02 2021 04:03> Them: Do you have a moment?
<Mar 02 2021 10:00> Me: Yeah, what's your concern?
<Mar 03 2021 04:20> Them: I have a question
<Mar 03 2021 10:00> Me: What's the question?
<Mar 04 2021 04:54> Them: I'm trying to foo the bar and it doesn't work
Grrrrgggh! Four days! FOUR days pass and they are only starting to ask the damn question!
Okay. Sometimes it's not so bad. Sometimes it's only two days wasted.
There absolutely is a difference between inefficient and efficient communication, and you're right to highlight it. There is no gap between efficient and pleasant communication, though, and attacking pleasantry as if its sin is inefficiency is pretty messed up.
Like you say, that exchange is no less pleasant, and of course way more efficient, if it's one message with better information density. That takes some coaching, but the answer (and to be clear I don't think you're advocating for it) absolutely isn't "be a grouchy turd in the name of efficiency".
(And arguably that should then be an email, but most folks have forgotten that email exists, so, yeah.)
2. What about your message, or any of the other messages here, exempt them from requiring the sorts of obligatory pleasantries ("good morning"; politeness and courtesy that should be "[written] in words"; etc) that you're so strenuously arguing for as a "baseline expectation"?
(I'm going to pre-emptively call bullshit on any "giving a taste of one's own medicine" response to the latter question. I'm not interested in dishonest answers.)
Ooof, never seen it that bad, but that would be really annoying and you shouldn't tolerate it.
My rule is if the help I need isn't so urgent that it requires chat, then I'll send an email.
Also if I'm doing something in response to their request then I'll always say what I'm doing when I do it, so they at least know that their request is being worked on. Kinda like
Mav: Switching to guns
Goose: Ok
Mav: Firing!
Goose Ok, hit?
Mav: No - trying it again as sudo ...
Yeah, this is a really annoying habit in instant messangers, even without the long delays in response. I've just taken to not responding to messages like 'hi'. Either state what you want or I'm not going to interrupt my workflow to ask. (that said, I don't mind (and may appreciate) pleasentries included along with useful questions or information, even on bug reports, just don't add more round-trips for the sake of them).
> Good morning! When I foo the bar, I expect it to baz, as per documentation at <link>, but it seems to be drizzling instead. Could you please tell me if it's me doing something wrong, or there is a bug in bar that prevents me from fooing it? Thank you!
Compare this with the typical annoying IM exchange that happens across multiple timezones (EU ↔ India seems to be the worst):
Grrrrgggh! Four days! FOUR days pass and they are only starting to ask the damn question!Okay. Sometimes it's not so bad. Sometimes it's only two days wasted.