>I believe this is why we use emoticons -- when something stated flatly can be taken wrong. Based on your assertion, all books I read are flat. We can determine the tone, circumstances, etc., intended by the author based on the surrounding context in particular and the whole book in general.

Yeah but a book is a published work - much more thought, planning, and care is taken with the material presented. Up here, messages come much faster and it's my opinion that often times what spews forth from somebody's fingers in a quick gesture of help ends up seeming to be more than originally intended. What I was trying to get at Paul Busbey just posted in a much better fashion on the "Are you getting fed up thread" (Thread #311635 Message #312478). His comment was Just wanted to make sure everyone is understanding that people are different, so lets allow for that and take everything we read on here with a grain of salt.

> Many members in general and John in particular usually provide enough context where tone can be reasonably interpretted. Goodness knows I have had to monitor enough of these threads to speak authoritatively on this subject.

Very good point, and yes you would be more of an authority than me. Thing is though, for me at least, what I reasonably interpret as a rambunctiousness to set the record straight & no big deal... is often interpretted by others as rude, obnoxious, insulting, demeaning, etc. Interpretation is a personal thing, and since there seems to be such a variance in interpretations around here I feel that interpretation itself, when the material being interpreted is not the technical subject at hand, is to blame more so than the person the interpretation is aimed at.

Just my very humble opinion, but admittedly your opinion as UT hall monitor holds more water < g > so I'll shut up now =D)