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Thread: Miss Understandings

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Brewer, Maine
    Posts
    120

    Smile Miss Understandings

    Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2005 is a fruitful geocaching year for all!

    I wanted to take a moment and mention something that I think needs mentioning. Please take this all with a grain of salt, and not as a comment geared towards anyone in particular. Rick -- I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds by writing this message. If so, let me know.

    Back in the late 80's/early 90's, I ran a computer bulletin board. Before the internet, this is where everyone met online to share messages, files, games, etc using a dialup modem. The internet has since killed this. *sigh* I miss those days. ANYWAY. I learned a lot in those days, that really can carry-over to systems like geocachingmaine. Rick et al do an amazing job here, but we the people are what make it blossom.

    One of the things I learned "back in the day", was that e-mail and forum messages need to be taken with a grain of salt. You have no idea what the message poster's attitude or intent was by reading a message. It is hard to convey a tone or inflection in an e-mail. What I may say in jest may be completely misunderstood (or Miss Understood, as my message title says) and can be blown out of proportion so easily. I'm just starting to notice a few messages in the forums where I can sense some anger building, and I don't want that to happen. Everyone on this site is an integral and important piece to the larger puzzle. We don't need fighting and warring amongst us.

    Here are a few things I think will help alleviate this:

    1. Use "Smilies". Smilies were originally designed to help other users tell when they were trying to say something funny, or tongue-in-cheek. If you are posting something that may be sarcastic, funny, or tongue-in-cheek, throw in a smiley so that people will know that that is your intent.

    2. Use Italics. Italics and bold are other things that can help convey your true meaning.

    3. Use acronyms. "LOL" and "ROFL" are among the acroymns used to denote laughing ("Laughing Out Loud" and "Rolling On Floor Laughing"). Again, this more clearly helps the reader understand the intent of your message or statement.

    4. Go with the flow. Take EVERYTHING you read with a grain of salt.

    5. Have fun, but don't push buttons. It's easy to get into a message war. Learn when to let things go. It's not worth it.

    Here's an example of how misundestandings happen. THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE
    Misunderstood statement: You guys are so annoying.
    Better: You guys are so annoying!

    Doesn't the second statement really convey a completely different meaning?

    There's a lot more that could be said, but just keep these few things in mind. I don't want to see something good go sour. I think the world of all of you. I don't post messages very often, but I do read the forums here almost daily.

    Take care, and have a peaceful 2005.

    Rick-- there seems to be a limit to the number of image tags (smilies/italics/bold/etc) that you can use in a message -- can this be bumped up? I'm at the limit with this message!

    -Randy
    "RanMan22"
    Last edited by RanMan22; 01-01-2005 at 07:45 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Solon, Maine
    Posts
    5,965

    Default

    Great message, RanMan!



    I've also been online since the mid-80's, and have seen a lot of changes in the internet. You're absolutely correct that emotion/intent/etc is hard to express online, and is the main reason why "emoticons" - the predecessor of "smilies" were created.

    Hey! Since the next caching event is going to be at a deli - wouldn't that be a great time for a food fight? ROTFLMAO!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Litchfield, Maine
    Posts
    3,592

    Default

    Thank you RanMan22, well said. I take everything with a grain of salt that I read on the internet. But your statements are 100% accurate.
    Blazing Troll

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Central, Maine
    Posts
    604

    Talking Emoticons

    Ha! ha!! So it's not so much what you say as how you "emoticon" it! 'Nuf said!! I like the idea of a "food fight" Bruce...right after the "eating competition."

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Portland, Maine
    Posts
    1,652

    Red face Thanks!

    Thank you Randy!!

    Having recently been part of such an incident where my comment, meant in jest, was misunderstood or Miss Understood , I appreciate that you put this out there. A gentle reminder is a great thing and I appreciate your willingness to share! My personal take away from my political statement situation is to remember that very few people here really know me and understand that most everything that comes out of my mouth is in jest, therefore I either need to refrain from comments in jest (which will be hard for me - LOL!!) or be more clear that they are intended in such a way. Unfortunately, I sometimes learn the hard way, but the good news is that I usually do learn! Again - Thanks Randy - I've wanted to say this and your comment provided me with the perfect segway!!!

    Happy New Year to all!
    Last edited by Beach Comber; 01-02-2005 at 09:54 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Standish, Maine
    Posts
    140

    Default

    And when all else fails, paintball the smiley faces at http://www.gamescraze.com/games/?g=paint.swf

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Central, Maine
    Posts
    604

    Smile Face Value

    All opinions are accepted at face value!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Knox, Maine
    Posts
    107

    Talking how true

    cudos to the Ran Man.. Life is much to short. All of us are however intitled to our opinion, but the reality of it is, no one has to listen..

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bangor, ME
    Posts
    6,343

    Default

    If Ran Man's comment was about my always bragging how much I like my DNF logs on my caches, I am sorry. I really thought you all knew how much it pains me to see people log DNFs on my caches.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bangor, ME
    Posts
    6,343

    Default

    Oops, forgot the smiley!

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