Following up on this, "handshakes" are pretty much the main reason why I have DMs disabled.

It can be hard to understand, from the PoV as someone who doesn& #39;t get this style of message, why it& #39;s frowned upon, so let me try to explain it. https://twitter.com/Vazkii/status/1259568836933754886">https://twitter.com/Vazkii/st...

When you send someone a question or request, it& #39;s a trivial one-and-done reply.

If you send someone a handshake, you& #39;re opening a conversation. Now, imagine yourself getting dozens of conversations with people you don& #39;t know, who may or may not respect you at all.

"hey"
"hello"
"can I ask a question?"
"sure"
"<completely unreasonable request>"
"no"
"but why???"

is a stupidly common pattern, and it& #39;s incredibly tiring and anxiety inducing for the person in the receiving end to have to deal with these on a daily basis from random strangers.

You also have to consider that, while your intentions might be good, there& #39;s many people out there with terrible social skills, or just a lack of understanding or respect for boundaries.

Some people take their "hi" being responded as an open invitation to converse.

To summarize, when you open a conversation with a handshake, even if that& #39;s your intention, you& #39;re not being polite.

You& #39;re asking the person on the other end to take a gamble with you and potentially risk having to deal with someone they& #39;d rather not.

Hope that explains it.