> if I end up just getting people to learn how to start a Slack DM with a question instead of just "Hi! Are you there?", well, that will also be progress.

As an ex-hi-are-you-there, let me chime in.

Unless you've had years of practice writing out your thoughts (what good programmers do for a living) and have a systematic understanding of what problem you're having and how the other person may be able to help - it is actually really hard to express yourself concisely and coherently.

People who've engaged in online forums for years or are otherwise quite intelligent just don't understand how much of a challenge this is for a lot of people.