Deposing Dictators

[David Bolen]

"Rufus V. Smith" <nospam at nospam> writes:

> Of the hundreds of books you have read, there is no lack of context.
> 
> In these parts, lack of context is often a rule rather than exception.

Not to mention most of the books I've read that are representing
inter-personal communication tend to describe facial features and
behavior of the people involved rather explicitly, e.g.,

  'I wish you were hit by lightning,' she said, grinning mischievously.

There really is a wealth of non-verbal information exchanged during
face to face communication (or even audio-only) that needs to be taken
into account in written replacements, particularly in an informal
environment such as Usenet.  Emoticons may not be perfect, but they
can help, without being burdensome in terms of verbosity.

--
-- David
-- 
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