Add new comment

 
One of the toughest lessons I had to learn in my corporate life was how difficult informal written communication is. A formal white paper or proposal is easy - it's the informal, ad hoc email/IM/blog/forum mediums that the friction manifests. It's easy enough to get one's point across, but sometimes difficult to do it in a fashion that doesn't seem abrupt and often downright rude (regardless of intent). The longer the exchange goes back and forth, the more danger there is. Take away the verbal and visual cues that humans evolved to read and the communication can break down. Easily.
IIRC, I remember someone meeting Dave from USSM at an event a couple of years ago and being shocked at how soft spoken, polite, witty and engaging he was. I've heard much the same about the LL boys and Churchill as well. I imagine the same would probably be said of most posters.
Tough nut to crack. Emoticons can only take one so far.