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.

And if you disagree, ask yourself, is he sitting there with a stupid grin on his face? Or is he waving his fist at the monitor? Or is he indifferent to the whole thing?

All of the above, if I'm any judge.

t picks up Prop from EH. Puts it aside for the day when I get another one somewhere, and I'll have got my props. On that day, I'll wear my baseball cap backwards to prove I'm hip to what the young kids are about.

I'm somewhere in the middle on the whole tone discussion. I wouldn't go so far as to say there is no tone in the written word, since books would really suck were that the case. But discerning someone's intended tone is much more difficult for every barrier between you and them, experience wise. Go from direct brain to brain contact to normal speech, to a phone conversation, to the written word. It get's a bit harder each level.

On the rest of the days topic, I ain't got much. Every position conceivable on the Deathmatch notices has been covered, including mine, so I'm not throwing any more electrons down that hole.

As to the rest, I don't have the history to wade into it. I've been around a shade more than a year, with a month or three of lurking. Plus, I tend to live in Firefly and ACCM, with only occasional forays into other threads, so I've got my own little microboard where everything goes smooth.

I find I tend to agree with Allyson on a lot of things. That much I'll say. She has a very Darwinistic view of the Interweb that appeals to me.

Right. That's all I've got.

Which is (for right or wrong) precisely what I meant about the difference between newbies and oldies.

Yes. I get that. My point is that assigning tone to a post can be very unfair to the poster and can lead to much difficulty. A little patience and asking for clarification can avoid much confusion and unpleasantness.

Not a dictatorship? From the woman who commanded pink and made it so? Pft.

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.

I don't think this is fact. Are you presenting it as such? If so, we'd have no banter, nor would we make friends. Tone invited ita into my home, made me want to care for her. I didn't know what the problems were in Michigan, but I read the urgent desperation of needing. to. get. out.

I wrote to her because of her tone. ita was not an ax murderer, she would never take advantage of me, or harm me, or steal my television.

I knew that from tone. And slept comfortably with her, here, right from the start.

Clearly, you're wrong.

Tone?

From the beginning? Relentlessly smug self-righteousness. That's your tone.

Tone?

My point is that assigning tone to a post can be very unfair to the poster and can lead to much difficulty.

My point is that it's a) unavoidable b) often the glue which binds us together and makes this a rewarding experience.