Online, the error rate is so high as to make the belief that we are accurately judging tone one of mostly self-dillusion.

I don't feel deluded when I look at someone's posts and go "Well, that's just how they write." Because these are things I have learnt.

If Gar, Deb and Kat are expressing the exact same opinion, they will do so in three obviously different ways. And without poster names attached, I could do better than self-delusion to tell you who was who. Through tone.

Different tone from F2F, but tone.

Allyson, there IS tone, but it's harder to get across.

I don't get that, scrappy. I hear you, I just feel tone in writing, first, before the words hit...I'm not explaining this well. I can feel the posts, IN A VERY JEDI WAY. Or something.

I think that that leads to trouble.

It can. I'm sure of that. That people misread tone, or don't feel the tone at all. I don't take a lot of words at face value, I read the context and tone to get the deeper meaning, if any. Um. me. me. me. me.

Internet posts are not literature - not often "good" writing.

You don't read enough internet posts. People here? Good writing. Often? Poetry.

ok everyone, please replace "I don't like your tone" with "I am sorry, did you mean that to read ______, because that is how it read to me."

Of course, this not being a dictatorship, it is only a suggestion.

This has been exhausting. Does anyone feel better?

It's past my bedtime and I'm heading there.

It's past my bedtime and I'm heading there.

What, exactly, do you MEAN by this? ;P

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?

Sure. And I ask for details (or shrug it off) before I post a screed tearing them a new asshole. Not everyone here does the same.

You don't read enough internet posts.

Allyson, I'm shaking my head over this one. You have absolutely no idea what his internet reading habits are.

Sure some of the posts here are poetry. But it's by no means the majority of them.

To clarify, I can get general tone across--and I think all of us can jedi that. Each writer has their own unique voice. But tone of individual sentences is much harder. If someone posts something and I say "That's nice," if you know me you might figure out I genuinely mean it. However, I might sort of mean it and sort of be sarcastically commenting. I might be speaking ironically. I might be doing the Church Lady. I might be making fun of my own enthusiasm. None of that is clear, when it would be if I was saying it to your face.

Good writing can set a mood, but usually that is through descriptive elements

Yup... It's not too often that internet discourse assumes the following structure:

Sitting here in my chair, my face burns with anger. Fuming, I reach to the keyboard and type for emphasis in caps:

"WHY THE HELL DON'T YOU PEOPLE JUST ACCEPT THAT I'M RIGHT?!!"

Vented, I relax, take a drink of wine, and time passes. As my shoulder tension subsides, I rethink my earlier outburst. I again reach for the keyboard and type:

"I'm sorry, everyone. While I may still disagree, I acknowledge that I got out of hand before. I support just trying to get along."

Turning back to the bottle of wine, I imbibe. And imbibe. And imbibe shum morr. Whell, I mite be a wee.... bit tipsseee, but ya know, I gotta thype thes:

I luff you gise! Yer the greathess.

You don't read enough internet posts.

You can't back that up.

Tone?

None of that is clear, when it would be if I was saying it to your face.

It might be clearER, but it's not like misunderstandings don't happen all the time in person too.

if you know me you might figure out I genuinely mean it

Which is (for right or wrong) precisely what I meant about the difference between newbies and oldies. When I search the set of ThingsRobinMeant by any unclear statement, it's a much smaller job than searching through the set of context free intimations possible.