4 ms·

I don't buy that, it's a convenient myth. There is obviously tone in written messages too. Tone is not only about body language, a lot of it is about the choic

by vfc1 7y ago

I don't buy that, it's a convenient myth. There is obviously tone in written messages too. Tone is not only about body language, a lot of it is about the choice of words. Tone can literally be inferred by machine learning, check Grammarly, for example, they do that now.

jcims 7y ago
Tone can absolutely be extracted from anything written, but the fidelity and accuracy of what was imparted from the source is suspect. Sarcasm in particular is difficult, and is so universally recognized as such that we've constructed a mechanism to signify it.
- vfc1 7y ago
  That is why it's important to be mindful of what we are writing, trying to not write things that might be misinterpreted. Not think, tone can't be inferred from writing so I'm just going to write whatever I want if someone does not like it it's their problem. It's our problem too to care about the tone of what we write and think about how it's going to come across to other people, and not have this illusion that there is no tone in writing.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    Assuming objective tone interpretability seems like a leap. Some people are Shakespeare with words. Others, especially those for whom English is a second+ language, may not have such a nuanced box of crayons to work with. So one person's intended offense may simply be another's obliviousness to the particulars of their chosen phrase. It'd be better if everyone wrote with care, sure; but I'm not ready to hold everyone accountable for premeditated tone violations.
    - vfc1 7y ago
      And its because written tone is so easily misinterpreted that is important to be careful. It's not just about the intention, its also about the objective end result. Sure, you might not have intended to run over someone with a car, but that person is still dead. Not everything is about intentions, consequences count too. Not caring about the tone of what we write is almost as bad as saying something bad on purpose. For example, at the receiving end the end result is objectively the same, making someone else feel like crap.

by vfc1 7y ago

jcims 7y ago

Tone can absolutely be extracted from anything written, but the fidelity and accuracy of what was imparted from the source is suspect. Sarcasm in particular is difficult, and is so universally recognized as such that we've constructed a mechanism to signify it.

vfc1 7y ago
That is why it's important to be mindful of what we are writing, trying to not write things that might be misinterpreted. Not think, tone can't be inferred from writing so I'm just going to write whatever I want if someone does not like it it's their problem. It's our problem too to care about the tone of what we write and think about how it's going to come across to other people, and not have this illusion that there is no tone in writing.
- ethbro 7y ago
  Assuming objective tone interpretability seems like a leap. Some people are Shakespeare with words. Others, especially those for whom English is a second+ language, may not have such a nuanced box of crayons to work with. So one person's intended offense may simply be another's obliviousness to the particulars of their chosen phrase. It'd be better if everyone wrote with care, sure; but I'm not ready to hold everyone accountable for premeditated tone violations.
  - vfc1 7y ago
    And its because written tone is so easily misinterpreted that is important to be careful. It's not just about the intention, its also about the objective end result. Sure, you might not have intended to run over someone with a car, but that person is still dead. Not everything is about intentions, consequences count too. Not caring about the tone of what we write is almost as bad as saying something bad on purpose. For example, at the receiving end the end result is objectively the same, making someone else feel like crap.