Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-34343471-20190918180522/@comment-37443679-20190919072117

A timely reminder, Opal.

I am a retired secondary school science teacher, expat Brit living in Norway. I spend my time being a slave to Circa my 9-year grey tabby lady, and fixing up the house/garden/mountain log cabin (yes, real pine logs!) I read SF and watch SF films/series now and then. Three grown kids, two grandkids. And a husband.

I taught English too, and used to remind the kids to read aloud what they had written before clicking 'send'. Sometimes you realize that what you wrote isn't really what you meant to say or, more importantly, how you meant it to come over. The nuances we put into the spoken word disappear in the written text. The friendly, jokey 'insults' we trade with our friends become nasty, vindictive real insults in print. It's specially difficult for those who have other native languages than English, as they often don't appreciate the emotional impact of the words.

I am constantly appalled by the callousness used in the comments in most internet media. A lot of it is deliberate, but in this forum I guess it's mostly thoughtlessness. I really enjoy the game and the forum and hope to go on doing so. I hope I will never be misunderstood or inadvertently hurt someone else.