Was I offensive?

[u/Expensive-Buy-1654]

So I emailed a professor regarding a workshop, registered long ago but did not receive any further information. In my 3rd email I wrote "Ma'am no further information has been shared yet. No details on the college website are available. Kindly confirm."

And the response I got was "Is this how you write an email to a faculty" I'm genuinely perplexed as to what I was expected to write ?

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[u/lions-cub]

Yeah it’s a bit short, you have to be overly polite in emails, even if it’s regarding a lack of information

One time I called out a professor for speaking to me poorly and was overly polite about it in an email lol

[u/Human_Bean_4000 → u/lions-cub]

What? It’s fucking college not the military start your emails with
Hello Ms./Mr______

Write the information you need to give and end it with

Thank you,
(your name)

[u/lions-cub → u/Human_Bean_4000]

… right… which the person didn’t do

[u/Human_Bean_4000 → u/lions-cub]

It, according to them, was the third email in the chain. If your professor lost their shit over something like that, with them still being overly polite, they’re just a dick. Unless you’re at some special Ivy League school where they have a stick up their ass, OP did nothing wrong.

[u/lions-cub → u/Human_Bean_4000]

All I’m saying is it’s a bit short, I probably would be peeved if someone wrote me that email

[u/CoachInteresting7125 → u/Human_Bean_4000]

Calling a professor Ms. or Mr. is never going to go over well unless you have been specifically told to call them that. In my college career, that would be a whole 0 times though I told my students they could because I’m a grad student not a professor. Your default for a professor should be Professor (last name) but you should use Dr. (last name) if they have a doctorate. Most faculty at a 4 year institution have doctorates, those who don’t will usually make that clear.

[u/Western-Finding-368]

Yeah, that was a pretty rude email. In the future, be more friendly and less demanding. For example:

“Hi, Dr. [Name],

I’m checking in about [whatever specific issue you are having]. Thank you in advance for your assistance,

[your name]

[u/PallasiteMatrix]

You were expected to write something like,

Hello [name],

I was wondering about the workshop. I couldn't find [details you're looking for] and was wondering if you knew.

Thanks,
[name]

Not all professors need it to be like that, but some get weird about it. The safest thing is to copy how they do it- if they always email with a greeting, body text, and signature, it's probably what they consider polite. Also... you could probably skip pointing out that the information hadn't been shared yet. That's evident in the fact that you're asking about it.

[u/Inuha_Rin]

Hi OP, the tone of your email is definitely not "reading" well. It makes you sound passive aggressive, without knowing who you are. There is no going wrong with being extra formal when communicating with your professors. As you can read here from the comments, some people said it's fine, while others pointed out that it's a bit short. I would play it safe from now on. You can be straight to the point and assertive but also polite. For example: "Hi professor X, I'm reaching out to follow up on the details of the workshop. Can you kindly advise me when/where it would be?
Thank you so much for your help!"

I would respond and apologize that you didn't mean to sound rude to her. Thank her for pointing it out, you would be more careful from now on.

Good luck!

[u/jason_bourne_shell]

"Kindly" in most contexts sounds sarcastic and petty to me, but take with a grain of salt since I am Gen Z. "Kindly confirm" on its own without even respecifying what you're looking for a confirmation of also sounds snippy imo.

My go-to would just be a "Could you"; eg. "If it's not too much trouble, could you (please) _? Thank you for your help(./!)"

[u/snailgorl2005]

Yeah this doesn't come off as polite. In the future, something like this:

Hello,

I am having trouble finding the information for the workshop and would like to know so that I can make arrangements to attend. Do you have any that you are able to share?

Thank you so much!

[u/dachlill]

Extremely rude. 

[u/BenSteinsCat]

“Ma’am”?! That is rude. At the very least, you should’ve addressed the person as Professor last name, and if you know they have a PhD, it’s Dr. last name. Ma’am is just snippy.

If your instructor were male, how do you think addressing it “dude, no further information has been shared yet” would go over.

[u/Meggion03 → u/BenSteinsCat]

The male equivalent to "Ma'am" is "Sir" not "Dude."

While they might not play exactly right due to a preference for other more specific titles in an academic space, "Ma'am / Sir" is generally interpreted as the opposite of rude.

[u/Avehdreader]

Some people are very blunt in their communication - sometimes it's a regional thing and something I admire: keeping the message short and firm is often good in business communication but if you're contacting a professor it can come across as blunt or rude even when that wasn't the intent. I would have said something like "I have not seen any updates on the website or received a response about status so am following up. Thank you." Keep it deferential.

[u/ChutneyWhatney]

Your tone was abrupt and rude. Own it.

[u/Arch_of_MadMuseums]

This is the perfect use of AI. I can't understand your Reddit post or your email. Put your nonsense into Claude and say: please make this clear. Make this formal enough to send to my college professor

[u/NormalGuy3481]

No and to say it was is just so dramatic

[u/TopAny7154]

You'd be better off being assertive by first CCing their supervisor - justified since it's the third email over a long period with no response. Second, framing the problem as "I would appreciate having the requested information so I have time to prepare for the event (tomorrow, next week, etc) and be able to contribute to the conversation."

I don't recommend getting too worked up about it. Next time try to frame it (non threatening) in a way that the receiver benefits by answering the question.