Communication 101: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Blade · 01-11-2011, 09:20 AM

For me it is harder to communicate online than in person. In person one can see my expression and feed off of body language. A few years back I said something like "you go girl" or "I hear ya girl" something like that to someone online and she came unglued. I was stunned. Later someone who knew me in RT explained to me that she knows I used that phrase all the time, but to this other femme it was like an insult. So just using this as an example I had to almost learn to communicate online like a different language.

I've also had people clean my clock over a post, where they interpreted what I said way differently than was my intent. We are not from the same places, or families, or had the same lifes experiences. Therefore we don't communicate the same way to begin with. Probably communication is a learned behavior, unless it is something you have worked on personally as an adult.

I had never heard of passive-aggressive in my life until the forums....chuckling of course there are many words I'd never heard of before internet. Most of those words are labeling words which a large majority of us say we hate labeling words.

Funny thing is now with a little online experience under my belt...well yeah I still stumble sometimes and get questioned about the way I've worded something, but the funny thing is how I see newbies come on and watch some of them post and the whole time I'm thinking OOoooo I bet so and so is about to clean their clock. Why do I not clean their clock or call them out. Well it's just not in my nature to be combative to begin with. To be honest I'm just not that sensitive about others words.

To me tone and body language mean a lot. I don't talk loud, I don't yell at people and it is rare that I use a hateful tone of voice. I do believe you have to have a certain respect for your audience and they for you. If you don't have a certain respect you've lost your audience from the beginning, which possibly means you have both potentially lost out.

Anyway just my .02 worth

01-11-2011, 09:20 AM	#32
Blade Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: TG Preferred Pronoun?: He Relationship Status: once in a while someone amazing comes along...and here I am! Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Down on the farm Posts: 5,492 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 9,850 Thanked 14,401 Times in 4,049 Posts Rep Power: 21474856	For me it is harder to communicate online than in person. In person one can see my expression and feed off of body language. A few years back I said something like "you go girl" or "I hear ya girl" something like that to someone online and she came unglued. I was stunned. Later someone who knew me in RT explained to me that she knows I used that phrase all the time, but to this other femme it was like an insult. So just using this as an example I had to almost learn to communicate online like a different language. I've also had people clean my clock over a post, where they interpreted what I said way differently than was my intent. We are not from the same places, or families, or had the same lifes experiences. Therefore we don't communicate the same way to begin with. Probably communication is a learned behavior, unless it is something you have worked on personally as an adult. I had never heard of passive-aggressive in my life until the forums....chuckling of course there are many words I'd never heard of before internet. Most of those words are labeling words which a large majority of us say we hate labeling words. Funny thing is now with a little online experience under my belt...well yeah I still stumble sometimes and get questioned about the way I've worded something, but the funny thing is how I see newbies come on and watch some of them post and the whole time I'm thinking OOoooo I bet so and so is about to clean their clock. Why do I not clean their clock or call them out. Well it's just not in my nature to be combative to begin with. To be honest I'm just not that sensitive about others words. To me tone and body language mean a lot. I don't talk loud, I don't yell at people and it is rare that I use a hateful tone of voice. I do believe you have to have a certain respect for your audience and they for you. If you don't have a certain respect you've lost your audience from the beginning, which possibly means you have both potentially lost out. Anyway just my .02 worth __________________ Yeah so what if I'm triple dipped in awesome sauce? The best way to predict the future, is to create it.