In modern business writing, I’ve noticed a lovely new trend glorifying both the lazy and the dull in written communication: ending a note or an email with “thoughts?”. :dubious:
Granted, to reply none of us has to comply with “captcha” security protocols so technically some people responding Could be bots. Still, why assume that everyone (or even any of us) are? Why assume that we all post in bricks of text
with paragraphs as sparse as rain storms in CA? “I await your reply” “Replies appreciated”, “Reply before close of business today” or even, “Dammit Steve, Get It In Gear!” are all good in their own way and each is more specific and descriptive
than the bland beige bane of writing, “thoughts”.
Does anyone else find the aforementioned passive aggressive nonsense-closing irritating or just plain rude?
I’ve never written “thoughts?” at the end of an email myself, but I’m having a hard time understanding what the problem with it is supposed to be. The writer is inviting me to share my thoughts. What’s bad?
Not even remotely close. To me, the annoyance factor is somewhere below people using “How you doing?” as a greeting when they don’t really care how you’re doing.
Of course, it might be nice if they typed out the e-mail and said “You might find this interesting/relevant/informative. Let me know if you have thoughts that you want to share about this.”
I certainly can’t see how you could see that as passive-aggressive, at least not in general. I suppose it could be passive aggressive if you just had an argument with your wife and she forwards an e-mail that says “Men who don’t buy flowers to apologize are 50% more likely to get divorced” and then only comments “Thoughts?” Yes, that would be passive aggressive.
I do not find it rude or passive-aggressive. I think it’s a short, informal way of asking for feedback. If you prefer the formality of “I’d appreciate if you could provide your reply by close of business today,” then I think you’re in the minority. And as always, it depends on your audience.
My boss does this and it makes sense to me. She gives her take on the situation and then invites my thoughts or take on it. Obviously I defer to her unless I have a strong opinion she hasn’t touched on, but it’s nice that she asks and doesn’t hand down orders.
Now if someone asked for thoughts and then disregarded them, that would bug me.
I have ended messages with “thoughts?” before, but it’s not terribly common. It’s usually when I’m sort of brainstorming ideas about how things might work. This is particularly a way when when I’ve been in a position of leadership and and working through an idea of how a new process might work. I feel it’s a way of both indicating that I’m thinking about things, that none of it is set in stone, and also that I want feedback, whether it’s just a “good/bad idea” or some suggestions.
Also, I prefer the succinctness and informality of that over something like “please review and provide any feedback”. It’s just too formal and sterile, where the other is not too unlike how I might actually speak. Of course, I’d go with a more formal way of requesting feedback if it’s appropriate, but it usually isn’t in a brainstorming session.
I disagree that it’s passive aggressive. I disagree that it’s nonsense. I disagree that it’s a closing. I disagree that it’s irritating, and I disagree that it’s just plain rude.
I agree with the OP. If you’re writing an email seeking help or delivering information, take the time to formulate an appropriate question based on your subject.
I find it a casual and disrespectful way to ask for feedback. Were I a better person, I wouldn’t let it affect me, but I usually treat individuals that ask “Thoughts?” by ignoring the email or replying late. Take that!
Sometimes the main message is essentially somebody musing vaguely about some problem they don’t understand and are too lazy to deal with so “thoughts?” is really meant to indicate “Waah, I don’t want to deal with this: you figure it out, then solve it for me, then report back so I can tell *my *boss I solved it.” That’s a pure BS passive aggressive whiney lazy thing to do. And it’s common.
At other times the main message is a well thought out statement of problem and proposed solution, or proposed further lines of questioning.
The OP’s issue isn’t (or IMO shouldn’t be) with “Thoughts?” per se. It’s with whatever the rest of the message is. And the mindset of whoever sends it to him/her.
In the typical modern blizzard of business email I like a clear marker that a message is meant to elicit some analysis and a response; it’s not just FYI or pure noise. “Thoughts?” is a decent marker for that.
