On Mon, 13 Feb 2006, Chuck wrote:
> It should be obvious that e-mail is a deficient mode of communication because
> it can't convey all of the information that one experiences in a face-to-face
> encounter. Many people who know me first online are frequently surprised to
> find that I am a mellow, soft-spoken guy in person. E-mail turns some of us
> shy people into pit bulls online for a variety of reasons.
I've heard this argument many times, but I don't get what's so particularly deficient about email messages, compared to other written communication. People have been communicating quite effectively using writing for thousands of years, without the benefit of face-to-face encounters. It's neither easier nor more difficult to communicate via email than it is via a letter, a newspaper editorial, a love poem, or a biology textbook.
Why the valorization of "face to face" communication? In my experience, deception and misdirection is far easier in face to face interactions, because people can manipulate expressions and vocal delivery to feign "sincerity".
Miles
>
> Many flame wars are started by people looking for trouble. Other flame wars
> become flame wars because an exchange of email messages violates the usual
> tone of the list. LBO-talk tends to be fairly contentious in a civil way, but
> many of the messages here would be considered flamebait somewhere else.
>
> The type of flame war that annoys me most is the one where people start by
> discussing issues and then a person or persons starts attacking the other
> person personally. Perhaps this is an innate human trait, but I've found
> myself accused numerous times of attacking people when they initiated a
> personal attack despite my best efforts to depersonalize the discussion.
>
> Chuck
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>