Ronni
Well-known Member
- Location
- Nashville TN
I'm on a bunch of different forums, social media, private groups, and for the most part I'm an active participant. I've long since realized that without the benefit of facial expression, voice inflection and hand gestures, all of which are adjuncts to communication, that it's often very very easy to misinterpret someone's intention or emotion for what they're expressing.
In the course of daily communication, we rely on non verbal cues constantly to suggest to us the tone of the person speaking. Even if we're on the phone and not face to face, there's so much additional information that can be gleaned from the tone of the person's voice, their inflection, pauses etc., We have none of that in written text. The best we can do is the use of emoji as a poor substitute.
I've learned that when I read something from someone that seems offensive, rude or disrespectful, if I'm starting to feel slighted in any way, the FIRST thing I do is to ask for clarification, determine if they actually meant to be rude or offensive, because that's the way it's coming across. Taking that bit of time to clarify what they meant typically saves me a LOT of time later, having to do damage control on an argument that was purely the result of a misunderstanding.
How do YOU deal with issues on forums or groups where it seems like you've been insulted or disrespected?
In the course of daily communication, we rely on non verbal cues constantly to suggest to us the tone of the person speaking. Even if we're on the phone and not face to face, there's so much additional information that can be gleaned from the tone of the person's voice, their inflection, pauses etc., We have none of that in written text. The best we can do is the use of emoji as a poor substitute.
I've learned that when I read something from someone that seems offensive, rude or disrespectful, if I'm starting to feel slighted in any way, the FIRST thing I do is to ask for clarification, determine if they actually meant to be rude or offensive, because that's the way it's coming across. Taking that bit of time to clarify what they meant typically saves me a LOT of time later, having to do damage control on an argument that was purely the result of a misunderstanding.
How do YOU deal with issues on forums or groups where it seems like you've been insulted or disrespected?