I think all of us who feel we know each other impose our thoughts on each other's posts. Sometimes we are off the mark. I've thought people were joking when they weren't, people I know, people tonight.

Telepathy would solve this in a jiffy!

There's tone in writing. I'm puzzled at the belief that there isn't.

There's tone in writing. I'm puzzled at the belief that there isn't.

and I'm puzzled that you are puzzled (which sets the tone).

I'm with Allyson. ALL tone isn't in writing, but there's tone.

Otherwise, why would we have to reread e-mails before sending them out to make sure they're appropriately light/conciliatory/formal/casual/corporate? The content's a given, but the context in which it's set -- that can certainly vary.

But, do you only read manuals on building oscillators? There's tone in writing. Good writing, anyway.

Allyson, there IS tone, but it's harder to get across. When I taught an online class, I found it very hard to write comments or lectures and sound jokey but enthusiastic and involved (the way I've been told I come across live), or stress that THIS sentence is sarcastic, where the last one was serious. I found to be clear, I had to be much less varied than when I lectured aloud.

Are you talking about new people, or all people?

I'm saying that readers should not assume to know the tone of a poster, and perhaps particularly of a new poster.

Do we assume tone? Sure.

Should we assume it to the point where we get upset/offended/angry without asking for clarification? I think that that leads to trouble.

I'm with Allyson and ita. There's definitely tone; it's just not quite as easy to analyze sometimes as in face-to-face communication, and it takes a bit longer to get a feel for when people are being serious vs. playful, etc.

t eta, or, what Robin said

There's tone in writing. I'm puzzled at the belief that there isn't.

It's not that tone is not there. It's assuming you can figure it out simply from the text that is the error. You can't. Tone is about too much more than black text on a backlit white screen.

In F2F, tone is devined not just through the words, but through the, well, tone used to speak them, the body language, facial expression, background information we have on the person/friend/relative speaking it - and even then we can misinterpret tone with alarming regularity.

Online, the error rate is so high as to make the belief that we are accurately judging tone one of mostly self-dillusion. Yeah, we can make informed guesses, but that's all they are -guesses. So to try and call someone on their "tone" online without asking for clarification - or in the presense of contradictory clarification - is most often the last grasp at offering something to the discussion when really nothing is left to offer. It's noise, and in all but the rarest situations, off-topic. With something so problematic, why even go there? Why not take the nominal extra step and just say what "I don't like your tone" really means - and that's "I know what you're thinking".

But no you don't. Not for sure. Not unless the other poster tells you. That's what we've got to go on here - people assuming the worst without asking for clarification, or even rejecting the clarification as being unacceptable.

Internet posts are not literature - not often "good" writing. Where we might devine tone in Tolstoy, Atwood or Rice, internet posters rarely have the time or skill to nuance accurately their intended tone through the laborious and exact placement of words.

Rather, most write like they speak - quickly, and sloppily. Even in great litterature, there can be significant debate over tone - pretending to accurately identify it online with great accuracy - particularly with regard to people you've never met before - is what is most puzzling to me.

Should we assume it to the point where we get upset/offended/angry without asking for clarification?

Is that avoidable? Hasn't anyone said anything to you that got you offended before you asked for details? But then turned out to be a nothing?

I don't assume I know the tone of a new poster. But I feel pretty attached to the idea of being able to be delighted or irritated with them. Continued interaction adds to the confidence of my reading, but still guarantees nothing.

I know msbelle and Kat, for instance, could use the same words and have different tones. I know that because I've interacted with them a lot. I cannot (and will not) discard that information.

Basically, if Buffistas were tone-free, it'd have no appeal for me.