Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I think that one of the problems, Don, is that in a forum such as this one has to rely solely on the words. In a face-to-face discussion, you have all sorts of non-verbal cues as to the person's approach - aggressive, friendly, etc. You don't have any of that in this medium, and it's very easy to misinterpret a friendly comment as an aggressive attack. I'm sure that virtually all the "heated discussions" we have here would be perfectly amicable chats if conducted face to face.
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Yes, I'm very much aware of verbal cues. In place of them, we have the Smiley Faces and other various icons to represent those verbal cues that are absent in written discourse.
But would you agree that sometimes individual personalities come across as rude because they don't know any better? Or, if the person does know better, he/she nevertheless decides on a combative stance?
(ADDED): I'm not only talking about a Forum such as this, by the way.
Don