Something to Consider When Posting

I belong to Dogster.com and I really like some of their views on posting in the forums. I took this from their site and thought it would be worth posting to remind people of how the interwebs should be viewed IMHO.

"While the Forums are great for sharing information, they are lousy for gaining consensus or debating emotional issues. Please do not engage in arguments. Always take a breath and count to ten if you find a forum thread is making you feel emotional. Consider that text on a page is easy to misinterpret. Consider how easily your words may be misinterpreted, as well. Ending a rant with a smiley face does not make it fun or validate as 'only joking'. Starting an entry with "I don't mean to be rude, but..." does not mean one can be rude. In public forums the best and easiest way to respond to a person that is behaving inappropriately is to simply ignore them and that topic.

Assume good will and allow that the poster may not have intended for the message to be interpreted the way it came across to you. Before responding always consider how you would feel if someone else had written the same thing to you. Civility is always required while on Dogster.

Please avoid aggressive responses, and counter ideas and opinions with which you don't agree with friendly and helpful advice."

I just think its easily overlooked common sense stuff. People often forget how typing can't reflect the real tone behind a comment.

I 100% agree with this.

I have been participating in forums for many years and they can REALLY get out of hand.

It's also really hard for newbies, I find alot of forum members (even people on here) are very clicky and it makes newbies feel unwelcome and they stop posting.

I used to respond to arguments and debates on forums and now I avoid them like the plague!

I agree as well and it's why I stopped trying to defend myself in the Impractical Snake thread over a few innocent comments on how I feel. It's so easy to respond when emotions are involved, isn't it?

Thanks Dionythicus for reminding me with this thread.

dionythicus said:

People often forget how typing can't reflect the real tone behind a comment.

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Thats what Smileys are for!!!:flames::dancer:unch::shrugs::laugh01:

I think you missed one important sentance....

"Ending a rant with a smiley face does not make it fun or validate as 'only joking'. "

Smileys should not be a replacement for being well spoken.

But I can't be sarcastic without smilies :'(

Dogster! Cool! We've been members there for more than 6 years, now . Talk about a place to find INTENSE opinions!

Snakewhisperer said:

But I can't be sarcastic without smilies :'(

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And this is exactly what this post is about. I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic right now. While smileys can be fun to add emotions at times, they can't solve the problem of written miscommunication. But thank you for proving my point.

Personally, I think a certain amount of disagreement and conflict is healthy. Avoiding it is not necessarily a demonstration of maturity, but dealing with conflict in a fair and level-headed manner certainly is. That said, I think that in the midst of a very emotional discussion, this post is an excellent rule of thumb to refer back to.

I've never been on Dogster. Are these views generally followed on that forum, and are they working effectively? It's very easy for people to forget how to be civilized when they have a computer screen to hide behind, so I'm always impressed when a forum takes steps to remain a civilized community.

dionythicus said:

And this is exactly what this post is about. I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic right now. While smileys can be fun to add emotions at times, they can't solve the problem of written miscommunication. But thank you for proving my point.

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Well that was a bit snarky.


/sarc
//the piece didn't say anything about forward-slash emotions
///heh

Snakewhisperer validated the point I was making and I thanked him for it. Again, this goes to show how easily text can be misconstrued. For the record, I am only trying to get across that people can disagree and be civil about it. I am barely on Dogster.com, but I came across their forum rules and thought they made sense enough that they could be posted here as a polite reminder that everyone has a different view on issues and should be respected/show respect by and to others. When you're upset or emotional, you tend to read someone else's post with your own emotional state attached to it even though they may have a totally different emotion behind it. I am pretty much always diplomatic and consider the feelings of others before I speak or write. I can get pissy over certain things, but I try to remember that there is a real person on the other side of the keyboard and would I say the same thing to their face? If not, then I don't write it. That's me. It's easy to hide behind a computer, but there is plenty of room for miscommunication when you're not face to face (or even on the phone).

dionythicus said:

It's easy to hide behind a computer, but there is plenty of room for miscommunication when you're not face to face (or even on the phone).

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I agree. If you want to be nasty, or show someone you are better than they are, why not look in the mirror and figure out exactly why you are feeling that way. Unless you are in menopause, and even then, you should treat people the way you'e like to be treated. Be kind. Value them.
You can disagree, say something like 'I don't think I agree with that' NOT 'You (blooming) idiot'.

I think no matter how well you write something its always up to the person reading it to interpret it. You can write something with the complete intent of trying to be respectful but the person reading it could think you're being a jerk about it. Smilies could be taken any which way just like text. Its not always up to the person typing to try and make themselves come across the way they want to, its also just as much on the reader not to take things the wrong way. There's really no way to fix it so that everyone knows exactly what tone you're typing in. Thats the nature of text.

Any writer knows to consider their audience. Being strictly professional and polite in mixed audiences can help reduce miscommunication, as can stating opinions as just that--your opinion, or citing references when you're stating facts.

Not always a lot of FUN communicating in that manner, but if you aren't really sure of your audience, or you know that some of your audience might be the type of people to easily take offense, sticking to polite and professional conversations are probably the best.

As for the trolls one can often find just about anywhere--if you don't "feed" them, eventually they go away .