The Secret Cause of FLAME WARS!!!!!!


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satay16

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Jan 14, 2006
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quite an old article i stumbled across. has it been posted before?

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By Stephen Leahy| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Feb, 13, 2006

"Don't work too hard," wrote a colleague in an e-mail today. Was she sincere or sarcastic? I think I know (sarcastic), but I'm probably wrong.

According to recent research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, I've only a 50-50 chance of ascertaining the tone of any e-mail message. The study also shows that people think they've correctly interpreted the tone of e-mails they receive 90 percent of the time.

"That's how flame wars get started," says psychologist Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago, who conducted the research with Justin Kruger of New York University. "People in our study were convinced they've accurately understood the tone of an e-mail message when in fact their odds are no better than chance," says Epley.

The researchers took 30 pairs of undergraduate students and gave each one a list of 20 statements about topics like campus food or the weather. Assuming either a serious or sarcastic tone, one member of each pair e-mailed the statements to his or her partner. The partners then guessed the intended tone and indicated how confident they were in their answers.

Those who sent the messages predicted that nearly 80 percent of the time their partners would correctly interpret the tone. In fact the recipients got it right just over 50 percent of the time.

"People often think the tone or emotion in their messages is obvious because they 'hear' the tone they intend in their head as they write," Epley explains.

At the same time, those reading messages unconsciously interpret them based on their current mood, stereotypes and expectations. Despite this, the research subjects thought they accurately interpreted the messages nine out of 10 times.

The reason for this is egocentrism, or the difficulty some people have detaching themselves from their own perspective, says Epley. In other words, people aren't that good at imagining how a message might be understood from another person's perspective.

"E-mail is very easy to misinterpret, which not only triggers flame wars but lots of litigation," says Nancy Flynn, executive director of the e-Policy Institute and author of guidebooks E-Mail Rules and Instant Messaging Rules. Many companies battle workplace lawsuits triggered by employee e-mail, according to Flynn.

People write absolutely, incredibly stupid things in company e-mails," said Flynn.
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dunno what this means, perhaps nxt time we should end our posts like this?:

*this post is written in an infomative manner and has no means in implying historical events in Clubsnap.*:bsmilie:
 

i thought that why we use smillies to help to "add" tone into a otherwise lifeless e-mail?
 

denniskee said:
i thought that why we use smillies to help to "add" tone into a otherwise lifeless e-mail?

after adding smillies, ur boss complain that u are too unprofessional and hence u got sacked...

haiz.. we live in a contradictory world..
 

flame on!
 

denniskee said:
i thought that why we use smillies to help to "add" tone into a otherwise lifeless e-mail?
:rolleyes: <--this :) may has started quite some :flame:
 

i noticed this sentence too:"think about it."
when in a heated arguement, many like to use this, for eg, "so blah blah should blah and not blah............ think about it." this phrase in a way can make some pp slightly irritated too, cos it sort of force upon this superioty over one by insulting that one is not thinking, and that he/she is right.
 

Nowadays... when I suspect potential flame email, I just pick up the phone and call my colleague to find out... I personally have a very bad experience with flame emails.... almost cost me my job...;p
 

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