Re: [tlug] Perceiving Hostility . . . . . . . . . . .

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Dave" writes:

    Dave> All I'm saying is: isn't communication as much a
    Dave> responsibility of the speaker as it is the listener?

No.  Absolutely not.  If we *were* discussing *speakers* and
*listeners*, the balance *would* be much more even.  But we're not.

We're discussing *writers* and *readers*.  A writer has a
responsibility to make his statements precise, accurate, and polite by
the standards of the forum.  For example, Godwin's style is brisk,
even brusque, but well above the minimum standard of TLUG courtesy.
He scores quite highly on precision and accuracy.  Two out of three
ain't bad. :-)

A writer cannot cater to *all* of the potential readers.  First, there
are too many.  Second, he has no idea who the majority are.  Even TLUG
which AFAIK is a relatively active channel probably has a 3:1, maybe
even as much as 10:1, ratio of lurkers to posters.  Third, a speaker,
even in large public gatherings, gets immediate feedback from the
audience.  He can change tone of voice and word choice even before he
finishes a sentence.  A writer has no such opportunity; he must live
or die by the first version.  Fourth, in the nature of things,
listeners may lose a lot of effectiveness, or even their whole
opportunity, if they delay reply by more than a second or three.  The
*reader* is under no such external pressure to answer within seconds.
There's plenty of time for readers to consider the source, the
context, etc.

For all these reasons, taking responsibility for effective
communication means far more effort for readers on mailing lists, who
must take account of the various styles of writers on the list, than
it does for writers, who responsibility is simply to express themselves.

-- 
School of Systems and Information Engineering http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba                    Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN