Poorly Written Facebook Message Turns Me Off From a Potential Cousin

I just got a Facebook message from someone in London with the last name of Zimbler who wanted to know my family tree. And instead of eagerly sending this to him, as I had to another Zimbler connection made on Facebook, I sent a reply saying I’d already been in contact with another London Zimbler.

Why did I reply so differently to the second Zimbler request? Because the Facebook message received today was illiterate. And there wasn’t even a profile picture of this Zimbler to go along with his name.

Below is his message with misspellings, no punctuation, etc. I have removed the sender’s first name to protect the guilty.

Hi I am ….. zimbler & have compiled a famley tree Would love to know your parents ,grand parents ect name so I can try to trace you on tree My emaill is ……

This Facebook message made a bad first impression and affected my response. And this reaction is why, in this blog, I am always urging you to be professional in your emails and online messages. After all, why should I take the time to send him my family tree when he didn’t even take the time to use spell check or punctuation or correct English.

If you are going to email or message someone with a request, take a few seconds longer and use correct spelling, punctuation and word usage. The image you protect is your own.

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