People say written communication can't carry tone. They're wrong.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

I can almost hear intonation and rhythm, and see body language and facial expressions in some posts. I can hear teeth clenching and see creases forming on foreheads. I see eyes, and death glares coming out of them. By reading.

It is not pleasant.

[trotsky]

1. LOL

Very true, sir. Very true.

[darkstar3]

2. Well...

Not to play the pedantic teacher, but you've got two different things going on here: tone and tonality. What I mean by that is that you have the overall "tone" of a statement, or possibly screed, as well as the tonality of individual words. The tone of a statement or screed can easily be found from context, including word and punctuation choice. The tonality of individual words is lost. This is why it's so difficult to detect sarcasm on the internet, while at the same time it's easy to get an image of an angry tool frothing at the mouth and pounding on their keyboard.

[onager]

3. I don't know. Most times, I can barely detect the condescension.

:rofl:

[laconicsax]

5. Most times? Really?

It's a characteristic element of certain types of writing, including (but certainly not limited to) message board discussions of the 'folly' of non-belief.

[onager]

6. I was being sarcastic...

But you knew that.

IMO, the condescension in R/T is part of the increasingly popular Argument From Personal Authority. To (half) wit: "I've studied/taught/occasionally read about this subject, so STFU."

Yes, as we all know, there's only one correct answer for every subject in the universe. And that answer will not be found in the differing opinions of all those boring dead people from the past 2000 years, but in an anonymous post by some frustrated messiah on the Internet. QED!

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. You're absolutely correct - I can feel the frustration in your post

And I think I know what you're alluding to - and no it's not pleasant.