Another Worth-Reading Kevin Drum Post

Whatever you want to say about Kevin Drum, he's a hell of a lot better blogger than yours truly. Purely in terms of technical merit and stuff. Anyway, I thought that this post on student emails was pretty funny, as are the links.

But especially relevant for readers and commenters on this blog was this: most people don't have a clue how they come across in email. This leads to all kinds of confusion, as the sender of an email is not necessarily that good at predicting how the recipient will take his intended sarcasm, good-natured ribbing, and so on. These electronic forms of communication have many advantages, but one HUGE disadvantage is that the recipients of your communication lack certain basic cues, cues that often alert recipients of communication to the intended meaning and/or subtext of your message.

I know, I know, where the hell is he going with this? (Missing cues and all that.) What I'm trying to say is that if you regularly refer to other commenters on this blog as a "toolbox" or as an "assclown," you might not mean it as harsh as it sounds (or, you may). But something may be lost in the electronic transmission, if you get my drift. And others reading the comments might get the sense that, well, you're kind of a jerk. (Not to say that you are, but some readers might, um, get that sense.)