Richard Lawson wrote:

Gary, Richard:  If you've spent the time to give
someone C&C on a fic you may deserve recognition
for your work; but don't always expect it.

I don't.  I do expect a bit of politeness, though, even if the author
violently disagrees with my viewpoint.  Heck, just the other day someone
sent me a rather violent flame over "Appearances".  Rather than flame him
back, I sent back a reasonable explanation of my viewpoint, and pointed
him to "Heart of the Home" as a counterpoint.  He then calmed down, and
actually apologized for his earlier flame.

Richard,

A blunt statement does not a flame make.  Nick probably thought he
was being reasonable, but neglected to add the necessary foliage
to his statement to make it appear inoffensive no matter what state
of mind the reader was in.  E-mail lacks almost all the cues that
allow us to colour our communication when face-to-face, to the point
that ordinary speech sounds blunt and crude when transcribed.

I would have expected someone as experienced as yourself to
remember that, and make allowances.

The lesson here is salutary:  Never, never forget that a blunt
statement may not be intended to be impolite or, as Richard
calls it, a "flame".  On the other hand, this message, although
polite, could easily be interpreted as a flame.  It's not meant
to be, not really, even though its content is negative.

I'm sorry to single you out Richard; we all do it from time to time.
I'm simply using your message as an example.

We all need to remember to make allowances when reading
e-mail, particularly that written in haste.  Try visualising the
writer adding various non-written cues, and see how that
changes the content of the message.  What did he or she
*really* mean?

Tybalt, I'm sorry for the spam, but I felt this needed to be said.

--
David Eddy - Senior Consultant, Progress Software Melbourne
dje@progress.com

Screening Coordinator and Subbing Bunny, Melbourne Anime Society
My fanfics are archived at http://nabiki.newberry.edu/DEddy