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> people often tend to misread or miserunderstand what's being said This is like the phenomenon examined in this 2005 paper: Egocentrism Over E-Mail: Can We Co

> people often tend to misread or miserunderstand what's being said This is like the phenomenon examined in this 2005 paper: Egocentrism Over E-Mail: Can We Communicate as Well as We Think?[1] From the abstract: > Without the benefit of paralinguistic cues such as gesture, emphasis, and intonation, it can be difficult to convey emotion and tone over electronic mail. [...] this limitation is often underappreciated, such that people tend to believe that they can communicate over e-mail more effectively than they actually can. When we read a HN comment negatively, we should second guess our interpretation of it before we reply. We may not have perceived it the way the author intended. Likewise when writing comments, we should ask ourselves if our wording might be received more negatively than we realize. [1] http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/nicholas.epley/krugeretal05.pdf http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/nicholas.epley/krugeretal05....

aptwebapps 12y ago
Another factor, although probably less prominent, is responsiveness. Back when I used to code on a MUD I noticed that conversations on one of the messages boards were much more likely to heat up than chat sessions. Just being able to react and clarify things from one sentence to the next makes a big difference. I suppose it's possible there's also some sort of face-to-face feel with chat that encourages sympathetic responses.
- XorNot 12y ago
  I'd say social cues are important. When you write in text you're really speaking in the tone and voice of someone's mind - which means their current emotional state, perception of the writer etc. The only reliable way I've found to make text only social interaction work is basically to be what feels like overly nice. Which manages to average out to a casual conversation in the real world - I think. I mean who knows?

aptwebapps 12y ago

Another factor, although probably less prominent, is responsiveness. Back when I used to code on a MUD I noticed that conversations on one of the messages boards were much more likely to heat up than chat sessions. Just being able to react and clarify things from one sentence to the next makes a big difference. I suppose it's possible there's also some sort of face-to-face feel with chat that encourages sympathetic responses.

XorNot 12y ago
I'd say social cues are important. When you write in text you're really speaking in the tone and voice of someone's mind - which means their current emotional state, perception of the writer etc. The only reliable way I've found to make text only social interaction work is basically to be what feels like overly nice. Which manages to average out to a casual conversation in the real world - I think. I mean who knows?