How do you deal with the emotion inferred when you read text in Fluther?

That is the Internet. That is why I try to ask for clarification if the comment is in any way ambiguous. Normally I misinterpret things in writing.

It is one of the limitations of the internet. We don’t know always just by the words written what the writer implies. I have mistaken sarcasm for serious and vice versa a few times that caused a problem.
Sometimes it works to ask for clarity and find out.

I try to remain open minded for this reason. The typed word can be so easily misconstrued because we cannot hear the tone of voice of the other person, or see their expressions. Like the others said, just ask for clarification if you aren’t sure of the writer’s intent.

I find my initial take is to always assume people are turds. That says a lot about me. I hate that about me. I am overly defensive with bullying and condescension so anything that even hints at is gets my gears grinding. You guys have the right approach.

Actually you might be more right than I am. I look for the good in people, and a lot of times am disappointed. Maybe if I thought of people as turds, I could be happily surprised when they are not! At least with your assumption there is room for improvement. My Father always told me I was too trusting of people. I wonder if that’s what he meant?

I get annoyed by all those being cranky about people ruining fluther. I go about it by doing what I feel is right and not taking it personally.

I am a mac user, for many years. I am disappointed by mac representation on fluther. Many posts related to macs are from those whose only mac education are what they see on the get a mac ads on tv.

It’s the main reason I use a lot of smileys in my comments on the internet :) (There, I did it again!)

How I interpret a remark often depends on the language used: when a comment is written in very bad English (or Dutch, for that matter) I often interpret it more negatively than I would if someone uses correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. That’s just me I guess.

Then again, in this case, I did not interpret it negatively because of bad language. The reason I got “annoyed” was more that I’ve seen comments like that so often that it just isn’t a joke anymore. I get that every time I read such a comment, but now I read it on Fluther, so I thought, “hey, let’s ask about the motivation behind those comments”.

@ Scamp Don’t change a thing!

@ jamms that is the way. I always take things WAY to personally. I can see a body check in a hockey game on TV and think “hey buddy, you don’t even know me!”. I have to learn not to do that. My biggest dissapointment in mac representation is the sense of entittlement a lot of them seem to have. I have grown up using pc’s and macs at home and work at the same time. they both have their place and are equily valuable for the right user. Put any two people in a room with the right question and conflict of opinions and you will get ‘tude.

Bri, I have to admit, I receive another response to a question I asked a couple of months ago that tore my heart apart out. I laid in bed and cried. So many different answers, and some so very heart wrenching. The question was” what would it be like to be you”

@ sccrowell – oh my, that is terrible. I hope you felt better soon.

reading answers instead of hearing them sets up a lot of space for miscommunication (a given with internet and text). I think that if the person asking the question doesn’t understand the comment/answer given they should be responsible for asking for clarity. If they don’t want to ask-they need to be able to brush it off . It’s when you ask for clarity and the sarcasm continues that gets annoying

I think that’s the reason emoticons are so popular. They break up the text bit by bit, providing a clear expression of the person’s mood – indifferent, rolling eyes, excited, annoyed, bored, infatuated, etc.

OMG THIS IS TEh BEST ANSWER EVER!!!1 T_T

The ‘T_T’ would suggest that the phrase is rendered sarcastic, or the talker is doubtful of it’s truthfulness.
B-but…You guys do like my answer… right? :’(