BLASTmedia polled some of our favorite journalists this week and asked them, "What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to PR people?" We deleted all the responses reading "when PR people ask me what my PR pet peeves are." Here are the answers...

PJ Jacobowitz, Product Review Coordinator - Ziff Davis Media/PC Magazine
"This is a tough one for me. Since I used to be a tech PR person I really try to talk to everyone and really try to see if there’s a fit for their client here at PC Mag. Call me or email me anytime; I'm always available to talk, unless it’s during Lost - that’s the best show ever. If I had to request one thing from everyone that I email with, it would be to at least at beginning of the email chain put their contact information (like you do). Sometime I’ll go back and forth with someone and need to grab them on the phone and I’ll realize I don’t have their number handy in their email. Also, I hate when they turn down dates with me. J/K. "

Jenn Andrilik, Assistant Editor - Child Magazine
"I never mind a PR person following up with me, but when I have given them a yes or no answer (usually when it's a no answer is when it bothers me) and they keep checking in to see if anything has changed. I won't give a for sure answer unless I know for sure, so when we have said no, we mean no."

Ann Cates, Producer - MarketWatch Radio
"For the most part, I’ve had nothing but positive relationships with PR people. I would say my biggest pet peeve is PR people who won’t take no for an answer. They’ll keep calling or e-mailing even after I’ve told them I’m not interested in the story. There was one guy a few years ago who kept doing that and was so aggressive that I was finally forced to tell him never to contact me again. And believe it or not, he STILL kept pestering me for a while!"

Jen DeLeo, Gearlog
“When they send me press releases that have nothing to do with technology products. For instance, an e-mail regarding Henna tattoos.”

Anne Stuart, Executive Editor - Redmond Channel Partner Magazine
"Pitching a completely irrelevant story. I remember getting one at CIO -- a business magazine for IT executives -- on how parents were using the Internet to research and arrange family vacations. At the time, online trip-planning was a brand-new trend, so the story idea wasn't necessarily bad in itself--but it was completely wrong for our audience. The publication I edit now is a trade magazine for executives at Microsoft partner companies. So it's annoying when I get pitches for, say, stories about IBM's partner community or for stories that belong in general-interest consumer publications. Secondly, pitching a story we've already run. This just happened last week--someone e-mailed to pitch a story on Microsoft partner grassroots groups. There's a lengthy feature on that exact topic in our current issue and on our Web site."

Keith Shaw, Programming Director - NetworkWorld
"Probably my biggest pet peeve with PR people is when they are unresponsive to questions that get originated from the journalist. They seem very responsive to calling us with stuff that they're pitching, but when we need to find a PR person for a project that we're working on (product test request, customer contact request, etc.), then they seem to vanish."

Colleen Oakley, Senior Editor - Marie Claire
“Lindsey doesn’t come in town to party enough :)”

Cristina McEachern, Associate Managing Editor - VARBusiness Magazine
"I would say the biggest pet peeve for me is when PR people call me and ramble on with their pitch and don't let me get a word in. If they are going to call and pitch it should be a very brief intro and then let me tell them what I think we can do with it. Any PR person that calls me and I can't get a word in edgewise for the first two minutes is not going to get very far with me! Also, they really should be familiar with the publication. You don't know how many calls I get and the PR person doesn't even know what a VAR is!"

Darrell Proctor, Technology Editor - Rocky Mountain News
“When PR people send me a pitch and then continue to follow up almost daily wondering what I think about it. I will have already told them to wait a week, and if you haven't heard anything, then follow up in a week. If you don't hear from me within 10 business days, chances are I'm not interested. On a side note…it's a lot easier for me to respond to pitches from people I actually know or have worked with previously than someone who appears out of the blue."

Peter Krasilovsky, Analyst - Kelsey Group and Local Onliner
"“People who are unfamiliar with my work, which is so easily accessible on the blog. PR people who act like they want to be my "friend." PR people who throw other analyst reviews in my face, trying to browbeat me. I just wonder why they don't use my stuff instead. PR people who suggest they can buy me with consulting if I cooperate in promoting their client. I take myself seriously as an objective analyst, always.”

Doug Stanley, Technology Editor - Tampa Tribune
“The answer to your question is easy: People who cold call to make pitches. My listing in the directories that PR folks use makes it very plain that I prefer to be contacted by e-mail. I simply don’t have time to take cold calls. Still they come -- every day. The people who call to ask whether I’ve received their e-mails are particularly annoying. If it didn’t bounce back to you, rest assured I received it. I know how to get my e-mail – I write a tech column.”

Les Shu, Editor - ComputerShopper
“I think for the most part PR people do their jobs and 95% of the time they’re fine. My only peeve is that when I need something, sometimes it’s very difficult to track down PR people, or they don’t have the information ready. Simple requests like images and releases shouldn’t be hard. It should be something that’s handy and ready to go.”