DDogg
22nd April 2003, 16:04
Are you a newer member who is puzzled by why the mods and more experienced people are SO crazy whacko and absolutely NUTS about CAPS and exclamation points, question marks and all the other attention seeking stuff? :) Hehehe, well I am gonna tell you.
When you first start reading posts you actually read them as text like a document or the like, BUT after you do this for awhile (years), you start reading as if you were actually standing in a crowd and having a conversation face to face with a person. You actually "hear" those CAPS as shouting, and "see" the !!! as jumping up and down and the ??? as agitated hand waving with a frown (my interpretation). Strange, huh? I dunno why this is, but it does start happening over time and I think it is generally a good thing.
To fully understand this post you have to imagine being in a crowded room, or maybe better yet, a meeting with business colleagues or peer-group. Mentally shut your eyes for a second as you read this.
So, you are in this meeting with calm conversation and somebody literally jumps up waving their hand and shouting, "Me!, Me!, Me!, I WANT EVERYBODY TO STOP and LISTEN to me!!!". OK, quick now, what is your mental and perhaps verbal response to that person getting in your face and shouting at you?
Certainly your mental response is "Gee, what a dick!" and you probably delegate that person to the scrapheap of dumb-asses you have to put up with everyday. Worse, you might feel personally attacked and maybe just want to smack that person as a deep natural reaction.
Well I was going to go on and on, but I think the above makes the point. Anytime you post or even just read a post, shut your eyes for a minute and imagine being in that meeting room with other people.
If you were to voice your text post in this imaginary meeting how would you be perceived? Would you come off as an arrogant ass? Pushy? Just rude maybe? Ignorant or full of your own self importance? Self-centered and never willing to help decent folks that ask dumb questions nicely? Waving hand wildly and jumping up and down like an idiot(the !!!??? thing)? The list goes on and on, but hopefully the point is made.
Now, you might say to yourself, well do the mods or other experienced people alway conduct themselves perfectly? Of course the answer is no. Just like in that imaginary meeting, people get tired, cranky, overworked and irritable. They get stressed, feel bad, and could be preoccupied with a personal, family matter, or job issue and allow that to influence their group input.
Personally I can be crusty as hell sometime (Walter Mathau was my hero and personal role model - :) ) and quite pushy when I get the bit of an idea in my teeth, as can plenty of the other folks here from time to time. Also, it is a two way street. Some of the mods can come off as real pompous asses staring down their high noses at people who don't ask the question in a way they like and replying in such a cryptic manner as to be completely unhelpful. Most of the time that is just perception as this is their hobby too and they may get resentful of the huge amount of time they have to spend answering really stupid stuff. Plus, part of the responsibilities placed upon the mod is to keep stuff on topic and to be an enforcer (most find it unpleasant but have to) of the rules to keep the place from complete chaos.
Perhaps unfairly, but just as if we were in our imaginary meeting, people that have been around a long time that have made positive contributions are allowed a lot more understanding than people who are new members to the meeting.
Just like in a real life meeting. That's the key to getting this forum post stuff down and for it to make sense to you, understanding the personal dynamics, body language, personality quirks, etc., etc., all of which are clearly telegraphed in your messages.
On a personal note, I find it intriguing as hell that this personality stuff comes through so clearly in a text format.
Ok, I'm off the soapbox now and hope you found this entertaining at some level. :) Maybe something for New and Old members to think about.
PS. Background for this post was I started wondering why exclamation marks made me absolutely crazy. I was laughing at myself and wondering why a simple !!! caused such an instant and nearly irrational emotional response complete with mental pictures of throttling the poster. :) So I thought about it a bit and this post is the result of that personal rumination. Just my way of trying to turn a negative into a positive so we can all laugh at ourselves a little more and try to keep this place fun! This is a hobby after all, yes? We need to keep a smile on our face whenever we can.
Best,
DDogg
When you first start reading posts you actually read them as text like a document or the like, BUT after you do this for awhile (years), you start reading as if you were actually standing in a crowd and having a conversation face to face with a person. You actually "hear" those CAPS as shouting, and "see" the !!! as jumping up and down and the ??? as agitated hand waving with a frown (my interpretation). Strange, huh? I dunno why this is, but it does start happening over time and I think it is generally a good thing.
To fully understand this post you have to imagine being in a crowded room, or maybe better yet, a meeting with business colleagues or peer-group. Mentally shut your eyes for a second as you read this.
So, you are in this meeting with calm conversation and somebody literally jumps up waving their hand and shouting, "Me!, Me!, Me!, I WANT EVERYBODY TO STOP and LISTEN to me!!!". OK, quick now, what is your mental and perhaps verbal response to that person getting in your face and shouting at you?
Certainly your mental response is "Gee, what a dick!" and you probably delegate that person to the scrapheap of dumb-asses you have to put up with everyday. Worse, you might feel personally attacked and maybe just want to smack that person as a deep natural reaction.
Well I was going to go on and on, but I think the above makes the point. Anytime you post or even just read a post, shut your eyes for a minute and imagine being in that meeting room with other people.
If you were to voice your text post in this imaginary meeting how would you be perceived? Would you come off as an arrogant ass? Pushy? Just rude maybe? Ignorant or full of your own self importance? Self-centered and never willing to help decent folks that ask dumb questions nicely? Waving hand wildly and jumping up and down like an idiot(the !!!??? thing)? The list goes on and on, but hopefully the point is made.
Now, you might say to yourself, well do the mods or other experienced people alway conduct themselves perfectly? Of course the answer is no. Just like in that imaginary meeting, people get tired, cranky, overworked and irritable. They get stressed, feel bad, and could be preoccupied with a personal, family matter, or job issue and allow that to influence their group input.
Personally I can be crusty as hell sometime (Walter Mathau was my hero and personal role model - :) ) and quite pushy when I get the bit of an idea in my teeth, as can plenty of the other folks here from time to time. Also, it is a two way street. Some of the mods can come off as real pompous asses staring down their high noses at people who don't ask the question in a way they like and replying in such a cryptic manner as to be completely unhelpful. Most of the time that is just perception as this is their hobby too and they may get resentful of the huge amount of time they have to spend answering really stupid stuff. Plus, part of the responsibilities placed upon the mod is to keep stuff on topic and to be an enforcer (most find it unpleasant but have to) of the rules to keep the place from complete chaos.
Perhaps unfairly, but just as if we were in our imaginary meeting, people that have been around a long time that have made positive contributions are allowed a lot more understanding than people who are new members to the meeting.
Just like in a real life meeting. That's the key to getting this forum post stuff down and for it to make sense to you, understanding the personal dynamics, body language, personality quirks, etc., etc., all of which are clearly telegraphed in your messages.
On a personal note, I find it intriguing as hell that this personality stuff comes through so clearly in a text format.
Ok, I'm off the soapbox now and hope you found this entertaining at some level. :) Maybe something for New and Old members to think about.
PS. Background for this post was I started wondering why exclamation marks made me absolutely crazy. I was laughing at myself and wondering why a simple !!! caused such an instant and nearly irrational emotional response complete with mental pictures of throttling the poster. :) So I thought about it a bit and this post is the result of that personal rumination. Just my way of trying to turn a negative into a positive so we can all laugh at ourselves a little more and try to keep this place fun! This is a hobby after all, yes? We need to keep a smile on our face whenever we can.
Best,
DDogg