Strongly agreed. In order to make myself understood to a broad audience online, I find I have to be much more sincere, straightforward, and kind than I would be in real life.
Personally, I really appreciate when other people online go out of their way to say positive things about me or my thoughts, particularly when it’s right before they disagree with or criticize me—feeling affirmed keeps me from getting defensive.
Online, you’re simultaneously speaking to many different people who come to the discussion with very different perceptions of background and context. I try to write accessibly, so that no matter your level of understanding of context and background assumptions, you can read what I’m saying and interpret it how I intended.
It’s a lot more work, and it feels weird to write with a different personality than I live, but I think it helps many more people understand what I really mean.
(I’m not trying to criticize redmoonsoaring’s comment, or say it fails to do these things, I’m just going on a tangent about communicating online)
Strongly agreed. In order to make myself understood to a broad audience online, I find I have to be much more sincere, straightforward, and kind than I would be in real life.
Personally, I really appreciate when other people online go out of their way to say positive things about me or my thoughts, particularly when it’s right before they disagree with or criticize me—feeling affirmed keeps me from getting defensive.
Online, you’re simultaneously speaking to many different people who come to the discussion with very different perceptions of background and context. I try to write accessibly, so that no matter your level of understanding of context and background assumptions, you can read what I’m saying and interpret it how I intended.
It’s a lot more work, and it feels weird to write with a different personality than I live, but I think it helps many more people understand what I really mean.
(I’m not trying to criticize redmoonsoaring’s comment, or say it fails to do these things, I’m just going on a tangent about communicating online)