Hi vs Dear

[Lostmyself86]

If you knew of someone, not overly well but had been informally Communicating with them and they usually address you with 'Hi first name name or good morning/afternoon/evening first name and you then got a response which started with 'Dear first name' would you take that as someone becoming more formal and stepping back?

Is this a working relationship?

I use dear instead of hi if I'm pissed off with them or I am setting a distance.

No but also not a friendship. Hard to explain.

Yes, definitely more formal.

Maybe, but some people just prefer writing Dear.

@Moonlaserbearwolf

Maybe, but some people just prefer writing Dear.

Yes, but they had been using Hi. I always use Dear if I don't know the person and it's a formal communication and Hi for a more casual communication.

Nope, I'm often a "Dear xyz" person. Have just been brought up that way. So even if I have been using "hi xyz" it can become interchangeable out of ingrained habit.

Yes and this is the first time that 'Dear' has been used and there has been a fair bit of communication over the last few months. Just seemed a noticeable change.

I'd go by the content not that!

Often you just write what's automatic to you.

Overthinking imo

Yes true.
I tend to use Dear and Hi interchangeably. So if you’d been conversing with me I wouldn’t read anything into the change.

Ok thanks, lots of different opinions on it. I wasn't sure whether to massively step back. I know I haven't offended this person in anyway but it seemed odd.

Has the actual content changed? Or the sign off?

Dear is absolutely more formal than Hi! I'd expect the change to go the other way as people gain familiarity, tbh.

I would say the message was still nice and friendly and the sign off was the same as usual. The only real difference was the more formal sounding beginning.

@Lostmyself86

I would say the message was still nice and friendly and the sign off was the same as usual. The only real difference was the more formal sounding beginning.

Then probably not an issue.

Dear is just more formal - was it the kind of email that's more likely to be saved, forwarded or passed up the chain? I'm often more formal in my language for something like that rather than a quick request that will be forgotten once answered.

No, it was an acknowledgment to a previous email sent earlier in the day. No one else would be forwarded into it in the future.