How to Annoy Querying Journalists

Photo credit Peter Gustafson

I recently posted a query in Help a Reporter Out (HARO) that received the most responses ever — 50! I used only 23 replies because some were duplicates. Of those duplicates, I picked the best reply or person who thought of my readers instead of himself or herself.
What may bug me may not annoy another journalist and vice versa. Here are the types of responses I received that went into the trash pile.
Focused heavily on product: The query was asking for help with a problem. One person said to use his product. Yet another who gave the same answer used a generic noun and also has a product, but it was mentioned as an afterthought — not part of the main body of the response. And guess what? I included the link to the game.
Attached article written by sender: The sender’s article has nothing to do with mine. If it has answers to my question — then paraphrase it in the email so the response isn’t the same word-for-word.
Sent file without extension: One person sent a file with extension — oh, yeah, like I am going to open a file without knowing its format. If you attach something, it needs to have an extension such as .doc, pdf and .txt. You’d think this old practice would be dead by now.
Mentioned expert can answer question: PR person offers to set up an interview. My query clearly asked for answers to my question.
Quoted study without naming names: Someone quoted a study that showed a common product was not effective. It was along the lines of “A study showed that the average smoke alarm didn’t work 83 percent of the time.” Then it went to talk about a product that lowered those odds. Well, I wanna know who did the study because it’d be biased if it was the company’s own study.
Tried to make unrelated product or service fit when it was obviously NOT a fit. People who do this probably answer every query possible and tailor their product / service to fit the query even though it doesn’t fit. For example, tying in counseling services with a query about finance jobs. No go.
Failed attempt at kiss up: One person made a phrase using the letters in my name related to the query. Cute, but served no purpose. Like I am going to use the corny-sounding phrase in my story.
You might wonder about some of these responses. More details for those who want it.
Does this mean you can never mention your product or service? No. One person manages a site that provides a form for finding a provider nearest you. It fit the article and the person’s reply. Sometimes we writers DO want products — often it’s obvious from our query.
Does this mean NO attachments ever? I was OK with people who responded with comments within the email and attached a study or something relevant to my query. Here, the respondent answered my query and attached a file as an FYI.
It’s when people say, my answers are in the attached. Is it that hard to copy and paste, then edit? Writers like to quote studies, data and relevant information to add to the story. You save writers time when you add an attachment that doesn’t promote your business.
So you don’t want PR people contacting you? Not if it’s “Have I got an expert for you! Want me to set up a call” type thing. I’m fine with the PR person sending me the expert’s answer. Besides, I avoid phone calls when the ball is in my court. Don’t think it’d take much effort to figure out why.
Some folks took the time to take advantage of a personal fact I provided in the query. That was cool with me. I discovered a couple of great resources as a result. This doesn’t mean you have to learn everything about the journalist. Mentioning a fact or two is nice.