Tone in online conversations - yikes!

[creative]

 

I love chatting online but sometimes I find it difficult to convey a message depending on the tone. Sarcasm, irony, or dry wit can confuse the reader and make them doubt the intention of the writer. Have you ever had an online message misinterpreted. How did you come to a resolution?

[harry_hawkeye]

This is the reason why some people would add the name of the figure of speech contained in their online message by using backslash, e.g /sarcasm. This is because they realize that, without doing that some people would just misinterpret their message. I personally usually add the phrase "in my opinion" before stating my opinion, because I realize that some people would misinterpret my message by thinking I am trying to make a 'statement of fact'.
 

[sima1106]

I tend to have my messages misinterpreted, maybe for the lack of emoticons or stickers. However I don't usually misinterpret other people, because I can understand what they meant based on the context. If there's no context, I'm more likely not to understand at all than to misinterpret. But in most cases, it's quite obvious is the message meant to be taken at face value or there's something beside or underneath that. As the poster above me said, I do like to state that something is just my opinion, or to name a source if I'm actually stating a fact. But other than that, when it's a regular conversation, I don't really have much trouble with interpretations. If I feel a message I type might be taken the wrong way, I add a matching emoticon or sticker to make sure it's understood correctly.