I may be confusing you by what I mean by attitude. By attitude, I mean the feeling behind the post, the body language of the post, not the actual content.
The trouble with text languages is we are missing important parts of conversations. Conversations isn't just the message. Conversation includes the tone of voice, and facial expressions/body language of the deliverer.
When you make a phone call you can hear the sarcasm in the tone of the voice. The voice passes over part of the intention of the message.
Going with this is body language. How someone is acting towards you is a clear indication of the intended meaning of the message.
Hostility can be seen, even if the words on their own don't show it.
Then we come to text. Text lacks tone. It doesn't convey body language or facial expressions. It just shows the message, and none of your feelings when you were typing it.
That's why when typing a post be careful. It may seem fine to you, but to someone else it may seem to be overly sarcastic or rude.
You cannot clearly post your attitude in your posts. People can try, and there are a few basic things we do to show our attitude.
EVERYTHING IN CAPS is considered to be shouting. Typing an entire post in caps is considered uncouth and rude. Would you shout your entire post at a person?
Smilies also change meaning. Be careful what one you pick.
Do not put the same simile in every post!
By this I mean don't have some sort of auto format that adds a smilie in your post, reguardless of what you typed. It won't match your message.
Look at these two posts:
Quote:
So you were being silly then. stare
Quote:
So you were being silly then. xp
They are the exactly the same, but their tone is different. Post 1 gives the feeling the poster isn't happy, and is a bit... well bitchy.
Post 2 is more silly, and it looks as if the post shouldn't be taken seriously.
What I'm trying to say is: be careful what you post and how you post it! Remember, we can't see your face, so we can't tell if you were kidding or not!
Community Member
Come to think of it, I'm guilty of most of what I rant about...