Re: Letters? (WAS: Re: Delete me)

David,

I could not agree more.  In fact Thomas Jefferson was a terrible speaker or
so I am told.  What comes to us as his eloquence was almost all written
communications!

So the excuse that e-mail is written and you cannot tell emotions is total
rubbish.  Thank you for saying so and thank you for being so eloquent about
it.

Sincerely,

mike burks
-----Original Message-----
From: David Meadows <david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk>
To: HWG Theory <hwg-theory(at)hwg.org>
Date: Friday, December 04, 1998 6:09 PM
Subject: 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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