Funny, that's precisely why I'm trying to make my punctuation correct -- to compensate for the lack of nonverbal cues. I believe that by using "proper" punctuat

Funny, that's precisely why I'm trying to make my punctuation correct -- to compensate for the lack of nonverbal cues. I believe that by using "proper" punctuation -- and I'll explain my idea of "proper" shortly -- I can structure my sentences in such a way as to help the reader understand the nuances of what I intended to say, instead of having the reader try to guess it while parsing my sentences. Think of it as optimization hints for a compiler ;) Also, you'll notice that I don't hold fanatically to punctuation rules or rely on punctuation alone: for example, I use emoticons to try to convey my "tone" and if my sentence ends with an emoticon, I don't include the full stop. As for what I believe to be "correct punctuation", I guess my definition of "correct" stems from an increasingly outdated and somewhat romantic belief that people read books ;) My rationale is that the multitude of authors use punctuation more or less consistently, which trains readers to have a certain set of expectations. If my punctuation doesn't match their expectations, I'm more likely to provoke a miscommunication. So it all boils out to assumptions and expectations, which is why I said I feel old: mine are outdated ;)