Re: [tlug] Paul Graham's Disagreement Hierarchy

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 31/03/2008, SL Baur <steve@example.com> wrote:

>  Paul Graham digs his own grave:
>
>  > The web is turning writing into a conversation. Twenty years ago,
>  > writers wrote and readers read.
>
>  Um, excuse me!  (More than) 20 years ago we were flaming each
>  other on Usenet in the same ways you describe as if it were something
>  new.

Remember who his target audience is (i.e. not the people who know what
Usenet is), and note that he is talking about what the web is doing to
writing in general. Frankly, not enough people were on Usenet for it
to affect the Great Unwashed; that (sadly?) ain't true of the web.

Stephen, have you perchance noticed any differences in the formal
writing style of your students that could possibly be attributed to
the influences of the web? I would imagine that "academic" papers
(i.e. as undergraduates, when they may well not give a damn about
style) written by native English speakers have changed quite a bit in
the past five years or so, as the Web Generation starts flowing into
universities.

So no, web-style flaming is nothing new, but its influence on writing
in general is.

-- 
Cheers,
Josh