Let’s talk about the email equivalent of nails on a chalkboard: the dreaded “Hi Dear.” You’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it. You open your inbox, hoping for something important — a customer order, a genuine inquiry, maybe even a message from a colleague — and instead, there it is: another vague, poorly written email from someone you’ve never heard of, starting with “Hi Dear.” No name. No context. No clue. Just “Dear.” In Western culture, this isn’t charming. It’s not professional. It’s not even polite. It’s lazy, intrusive, and frankly, weird. If you’re emailing a stranger in a business context and you don’t even bother to use their actual name, you’ve already disrespected their time. We don’t call colleagues “Dear.”We don’t call strangers “Dear.”We don’t cold-pitch with “Dear.” It reeks of spam, screams of inauthenticity, and feels like you’re about to be sold a pyramid scheme or a hacked-up version of someone else’s WordPress template. And we know exactly where these emails are coming from: Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook. Never from an actual company domain. Why? Because these aren’t professionals. These are random people who’ve signed up to spam-for-commission programs. They’re not developers. They don’t know what SEO even stands for. They’re just trying to sell your reply to some low-rent outsourcing agency overseas for a few bucks a lead. If you're going to hustle, at least learn some basic respect first. Here’s a free tip for these spammy senders: learn the cultural tone of the people you’re emailing. In most Western countries, “Hi Dear” is considered tone-deaf and outdated. It’s what your grandma might write in a thank-you card — not how professionals begin business emails. When a total stranger calls us “Dear,” it doesn’t feel warm or respectful. It feels patronizing. It feels fake. And let’s be honest — if you’re sending out 10,000 copy-paste messages from a Gmail account pretending to be a web developer, you’re not being professional anyway. You’re just noise. There are enough problems in the digital world without having to delete 20 of these emails every single morning. It’s bad enough we’re flooded with phishing scams and fake invoices — do we really need this avalanche of “Hi Dear” nonsense on top of it? Enough already. If you can’t take the time to write someone’s name, or even use a real business email address, then don’t bother pressing send. We’re not falling for it. We’re not replying. And no, we don’t need a new website — especially not from someone who thinks “Hi Dear” is how business is done. Let’s talk about the email equivalent of nails on a chalkboard: the dreaded “Hi Dear.” “Hi Dear.” You’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it. You open your inbox, hoping for something important — a customer order, a genuine inquiry, maybe even a message from a colleague — and instead, there it is: another vague, poorly written email from someone you’ve never heard of, starting with “Hi Dear.” all “Hi Dear.” No name. No context. No clue. Just “Dear.” In Western culture, this isn’t charming. It’s not professional. It’s not even polite. It’s lazy, intrusive, and frankly, weird. If you’re emailing a stranger in a business context and you don’t even bother to use their actual name, you’ve already disrespected their time. We don’t call colleagues “Dear.” We don’t call strangers “Dear.” We don’t cold-pitch with “Dear.” It reeks of spam, screams of inauthenticity, and feels like you’re about to be sold a pyramid scheme or a hacked-up version of someone else’s WordPress template. And we know exactly where these emails are coming from: Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook. Never from an actual company domain. Why? Because these aren’t professionals. These are random people who’ve signed up to spam-for-commission programs. They’re not developers. They don’t know what SEO even stands for. They’re just trying to sell your reply to some low-rent outsourcing agency overseas for a few bucks a lead. If you're going to hustle, at least learn some basic respect first. Here’s a free tip for these spammy senders: learn the cultural tone of the people you’re emailing. In most Western countries, “Hi Dear” is considered tone-deaf and outdated. It’s what your grandma might write in a thank-you card — not how professionals begin business emails. When a total stranger calls us “Dear,” it doesn’t feel warm or respectful. It feels patronizing. It feels fake. And let’s be honest — if you’re sending out 10,000 copy-paste messages from a Gmail account pretending to be a web developer, you’re not being professional anyway. You’re just noise. You’re just noise. There are enough problems in the digital world without having to delete 20 of these emails every single morning. It’s bad enough we’re flooded with phishing scams and fake invoices — do we really need this avalanche of “Hi Dear” nonsense on top of it? Enough already. If you can’t take the time to write someone’s name, or even use a real business email address, then don’t bother pressing send. We’re not falling for it. We’re not replying. And no, we don’t need a new website — especially not from someone who thinks “Hi Dear” is how business is done.

The is an opinion piece based on the author’s POV and does not necessarily reflect the views of HackerNoon.

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“Hi Dear” Needs to Die: A Rant for Every Inbox That’s Had Enough

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