Heh. :) (Destiny)

by Robot Chickens, Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 17:24 (3417 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

I wasn't arguing with anything anyone had said earlier in the thread. Seems my post came across that way to you, and I'm not sure why :-/

Due to the structures of forums, and expectations based upon previous conversations, our brains tend to interpret responses to a post as an argument unless it is explicitly stated otherwise. This is not news. We know this by examining how emails are perceived and how a well-placed emoticon can help clarify the tone of a response. This even happens in real life conversations with my wife. If I don't make it clear that my response to something is a side-note or a comment on the subject, it can easily be heard as a contrary opinion.

For feedback's sake, I read your initial response as an argument against the whole of Claude's post as well. Its positioning in relation to the post made it seem to me that you were arguing against the idea that a person could hold a skeptical position while at the same time being invested in the subject. I know that isn't what you intended to communicate, but it came across that way to me. Part of that interpretation lies at my feet, but accurate interpretation can be helped by explicit markers of the scope of your response. Just including the simple phrase, "I agree with this, but I want to comment on this" makes a huge difference.

Overall, I think you are a great communicator and I appreciate your thoughts. I only offer this because you were confused about why he interpreted your response in a way you didn't expect.