To dear or not to dear?

Do you ever judge formal e-mail senders by the way they start their messages?

There are those who start with “Tallouza, blah blah blah” and there are others who start with “Dear Tallouza, blah blah blah” and then there are those who go direct into the subject without even bothering to address the recipient.

I find the first kind of e-mailers to border on the arrogant in the name of professionalism. In fact I can even picture the emerging breed of Jordanian yuppies (all genders) , metrosexuals and all too well-known digital gurus (mostly men) who belong to this category. As for the second kind, I find them to be courteous and humble senders. Finally there is very little doubt in my mind that the third type is likely to be obnoxious and rude.

One small confession: I used to belong to the first kind when I used to work in the US. I never thought anything of the lack of salutation. When I started working in Amman I had difficulty adopting to the dear thing. I have now come to terms with the fact that not to dear is normal in the US while in Jordan I am finding it pretentious. Did I confuse you?