Saying Hello

When we meet someone for the first time, we generally say Hello, my
name is ---. Then engage in some discussion. If we 'click', we may
exchange business cards and, perhaps, set a date, time, place, method
to follow up. At some point, we may even invite that person to join us
in different venues. Perhaps invite them to join our Friday night
poker game.

Different people feel comfortable at different times and with
different people. The degree and speed with which we bring a new
person close to us is individual.

However, as we are inevitably in a rush these days, the online tools
seem to have removed all the caution and much of the etiquette from
some people. Either we don't have the time to say Hi, or think it
unnecessary and superfluous.

Every online forum I know of has a way to replicate the meet space
equivalent to the process mentioned at the start of this post. For
some reason though, the majority of people in the online venues jump
right over the introduction and go right to 'connecting'.

Why is there this dichotomy of the definition of 'connecting'? Why do
some think it is necessary to 'connect' before saying Hi? Would they,
upon meeting someone new, first give their address & telephone number
before saying Hello? I doubt it.

This also has nothing to do with the perennial Q v Q question. Notice
nothing has been said about the people involved NOT connecting. My
question is why the hurry? Why the neglect of etiquette or social norms?

Feel free to chime in. :P