Is there such a thing as colleague request etiquette?

[Pyrrha Rivers]

Hello BP,

I have been a member and participant here for a little over a year. I find this site to be so complete and informative that I use it exclusively for my education, inspiration, networking and idea creation.

I do, however have what may be a personal pet peeve when it comes to colleague requests and to a lesser degree with followings.

My issue is that when I receive a colleague request I generally want to accept it even as a matter of courtesy. However, I do use the very handy link to the requester's profile that BP has added recently. I like to know what the person does so I can have something to talk about with them. Some times I find that the profile is not even complete. Which makes me wonder how serious the person is and if I should spend any of my time communicating with them. I also do appreciate a message accompanying the request that tells me why the requester feels we should be connected. Is this message too much to ask?

I have received a number of colleague requests, waited for a message to follow and finally decided to either reject the request, which I really don't like to do or end up sending them a message asking them why we should be connected.

Am I off base expecting that someone who asks to be "your friend" at least has the common courtesy of introducing themselves?

What about the following? To a lesser degree, I think people should say why they decided to follow someone. It may even result in a very helpful exchange as is typical of discussions on these forums.

Please chime in and give me your opinions on these two questions I have:

Should a colleague request be accompanied by an introductory message?

Should someone who decides to follow you touch base with you? (Maybe people are shy or just curious and want to wait a bit before connecting).

Thank you in advance for your insightful responses.

Pyrrha