[Theforum] Re: survey feedback

[Madhu Menon]

At 06:58 AM 11/25/2001, aardvark opined:
>i find it more interesting to see people interpret my statements on their
>own... everyone seems to think many of my comments are mean or angry,
>which could be due to lack of emoticons, or due to their own expectations...

Well, when you ask "any more silly questions?", I'm not sure what to make 
of it. To me, it just sounds like a slap on the face, at least in this part 
of the world. I don't know whether you had a smile on your face or a frown 
while you were writing that. So I have to take the statement at face value 
i.e., you really think I'm asking silly questions.

I wrote a mail to Rudy yesterday telling him, "Oh, bugger off, Rudy!" and 
then put a smiley after it. That made it clear to him that I wasn't really 
annoyed. He wrote back saying he was glad I put a smiley, or else it could 
have been misinterpreted.

>as other evolters will tell you, i'm not surly in real life...

Unfortunately, I live too far away so I may never meet you. Without that, I 
don't much about whether you're a funny guy, quiet guy, sensitive guy, 
insensitive guy, or whatever...

On the Web, we miss tone, inflection, and context of speech. We also live 
in different cultures. It's very easy to get misunderstood.

That's what emoticons are for. :)

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
User Experience Consultant
e-mail: webguru at vsnl.net