Networking without feeling pushy (update)

I want to talk to people in a new field but I hate cold messages. This is my first time dealing with any of this. Some people reply with short answers. How do you phrase the request?

I asked what they wish they had known at my stage. People enjoy answering that.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 3 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.