Letters? (WAS: Re: Delete me)

Andrea <meridian27(at)inficad.com> wrote:


[snip]
>but for one thing, you can't determine someone's tone of voice
>in email (not always anyway)

Not to get at Andrea specifically, but this is a thing that always bothers
me. "Netiquette" guides always stress that e-mail can't carry tone of voice,
body language, and so forth. The consensus appears to be that this is a
fundamental flaw of e-mail and therefore flame wars are inevitable (and so
somewhat excusable).

Rubbish.

People have been exchanging written communication for thousands of years.
Some of our greatest historical writings are nothing more than collections
of letters written by people who had something interesting to say and had
the skill to say it well. Letters can make you laugh, make you cry, make you
understand exactly how the writer feels without any ambiguity whatsoever.
Without the use of smileys ;-)

E-mail should be no different. If somebody takes my e-mail the wrong way
(and they often do) then it is my failure to write well, not some inherent
problem with the e-mail system.

Ok, before I'm flamed for an off-topic rant, consider that the above points
apply to all written communication. That includes web pages. A "personal"
web page most resembles an "open" letter to the world. Will today's web
pages one day take their place among the collected letters of Caesar, Paul
the Apostle, Jane Austen, CS Lewis, Churchill, etc., as a document of our
lives and times?

If not, why not?

Answers on the back of a postcard to...


--
David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it!
 Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." --Goethe

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