fwiw, I'd take that back if I could. It came out wrong and definitely was not intended to imply entitlement on anyone's behalf. I'm willing to put in crazy effort to find the right fit for our company, and I expect the applicant will do the same to find the right workplace/job. I'm not going to waste my time on someone that doesn't value it.
I guess like you said: common courtesy, don't waste my time or yours. Why send an email if its' not worthy of a response?
I meant it when I said "minimises disappointment".
Being rejected is unpleasant in any context; one way to minimise the unpleasantness is to downplay the value of any one interaction.
If you make a big effort, the disappointment is magnified. This is why the first and most important advice to folk on dating sites is "message and move on". Otherwise you're going to get bitter, which is even more self-defeating.
I suppose that you were thinking of the disappointment of rejection, while I was thinking of the disappointment of not getting the chance to participate in something you care about.
Rejection is painful because of the "simulation heuristic" -- imagining yourself enjoying working at the place / going on dates with the person.
The simulation heuristic works the other way too. You can easily imagine being disappointed by the new restaurant. You know what? Let's just go to Shmookey's, we always go to Shmookey's on Thursday and get the steak.
edit: actually, no, simulation heuristic isn't quite right. Sunk cost fallacy? Someone help me out here.
>taking a dump in a thousand
baskets also leads to no eggs
While the quote is very funny and I give you that, the analogy doesn't fit. A more apt analogy would be - throwing your eggs without care in a thousand baskets, chances are most eggs will break.
I guess like you said: common courtesy, don't waste my time or yours. Why send an email if its' not worthy of a response?