How should I address you or refer to you?
PrevNode LinkNextWhen writing a letter to me, you can start it with “Hi Shlomi!”, “Dear Shlomi,”, “Hello Shlomi,” etc. or with “Hi Mr. Fish”, “Dear Mr. Fish”, etc.
Note that using “Hello Fish” is considered disrespectful! I hate it when people call me “Fish” to my face, albeit “Mr. Fish” is acceptable. You can also use my “Rindolf” nickname with or without a “Mr.” honorific. Also see Joel on Software's note:
In most of the English speaking world it is not considered polite to open letters to a Mr. Joel Spolsky by writing “Dear Spolsky.” One might write “Dear Mr. Spolsky,” or “Dear sir,” or perhaps, “Hi Joel!” But “Dear Spolsky” is usually followed by some story about embezzled funds and needing to borrow my bank account.
Some letters begin with “Shlomi,” in a separate paragraph. I personally feel that the person is trying to preach to me in this case, but I was told it is not considered bad form in English-speaking countries, so it may just be a cultural gap.
If you wish to refer to me in third person, you should start with “Shlomi Fish” and continue with “Shlomi”, “Fish”, “Mr. Fish”, etc. Alternatively you can start with “Shlomif”, “shlomif”, or “Rindolf”, which are my common Internet handles which I use everywhere I can.
On the IRC, I generally use the nickname “rindolf
”.