Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A case for using punctuation in Slack

blog.mitchjlee.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 274 posts

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#101

Post by toast0 »

parliament32 wrote: post #29

I feel like people complaining about this didn't grow up in the IRC/IM era. It probably depends on your corp's culture as well, but for us, Slack is a very informal communcation mechanism. If you need to write something formal, you use an email. Slack is equivalent to shouting out to the room (as if you were there in person).

Hah, at my last job, email was only used if you were talking to a lawyer. Mostly to write stuff for the record as in:

Hi Corporate Counsel,

As discussed, I am now doing the thing, description description. Thanks.

Otherwise email was just a way to write something down that you didn't want read or acted upon.

Corporate communication varies quite a bit, of course.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#103

Post by vharuck »

adjkant wrote: post #41

The message beyond the HN title actually has potential. However, the author focuses in some odd places for me. As far as punctuation, ending periods actually have negative emotion in text vernacular now for younger audiences and should almost never be used in 1-1 messaging. Exclamation points, commas, and question marks, great! For abbreviations, it's simply know your audience. You should use them when everyone in th…

>For abbreviations, it's simply know your audience

I've learned to avoid abbreviations and acronyms whenever possible in writing. If it's fast back-and-forth messaging, that could be fine to save time typing. Otherwise, people are very good at seeing long names as single "symbols."

For example, I don't use "CI" for "confidence interval" in reports. I just write both words every time. No confusion, and I doubt there's a difference in reading speed.

Obviously, there are exceptions when space for text is limited (presentation slides, labels in a chart).

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#104

Post by u801e »

adjkant wrote: post #41

The message beyond the HN title actually has potential. However, the author focuses in some odd places for me. As far as punctuation, ending periods actually have negative emotion in text vernacular now for younger audiences and should almost never be used in 1-1 messaging. Exclamation points, commas, and question marks, great! For abbreviations, it's simply know your audience. You should use them when everyone in th…

> As far as punctuation, ending periods actually have negative emotion in text vernacular now for younger audiences and should almost never be used in 1-1 messaging.

It seems that people read too much into the intent (imagined or real) in a text message rather than just the content.

As an older user, I perceive messages that use text spelling (e.g. u instead of you or prolly instead of probably) as unprofessional, but I don't let that get in the way of the conversation

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#105

Post by tobr »

iamdbtoo wrote: post #68
soggybutter wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree about ending periods. I always read those messages as being irritated or overly firm. Potentially worse, though, are people who have a habit of abusing ellipses (...) in weird places. My boss does this in virtually every sentence, sometimes multiple times, and it always comes off like he can't believe you'd say something so stupid

I find this odd because, to me, attributing malice because of the presence of a period is something you do in your own mind. You don't know the emotional state of the person who sent it, so you think of the worst possible outcome, but both are equally likely in the moment. You're just as free to give them the benefit of the doubt.

You can apply the same reasoning to any of the myriad ways we pick up social, emotional clues from people around us. Facial expressions, body language, brevity, melody, choice of words, clothing, typography, use of emojis, and so on. All of these things are nuanced, vibrant, easily misjudged hints of what another person is feeling, how they see you, or how much they care. You can’t really choose freely how to interpret them, you just do, and sometimes you’re bound to get it wrong.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#106

Post by hobofan »

iamatworknow wrote: post #22

I've spent my whole life using punctuation and full sentences when typing. Does it make me seem cold? Maybe, but it'd take more conscious effort for me to change it at this point, which sorta defeats the purpose of some commenters here claiming that it would increase communication speed, at least for me. As far as reading what others write, I really don't care, and find it sort of bizarre that anyone would.

I think coldness/warmth of the messaging style is much more dependent on emoji use, at least in Slack.

I couldn't imagine writing without at least attempting to use proper grammar. Especially in German where ignoring capitalization makes a difference of night and day.

My reasoning has been similar to the one of the author, but more on a "positivity" than a plain productivity level. If it's easy for others to read my messages and not having to puzzle over them, I hope that it will leave them with overall a more positive association of writing/communicating with me. And that not only goes for professional texting, but writing with friends (or dating) as well. I know it won't always come out perfect, but overall I think it shows some level of respect towards the other person.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#107

Post by [deleted] »

motohagiography wrote: post #23

There is a cargo-cult tech management trend where people use low-effort, sloppy messages and even rudeness as a status signal. I get that the simplest things are the important ones, and wall of text details are usually prevarication, but Slack isn't Tinder. Like project managers think they're channelling Bezos with "?" messages. I can see how some people interpret "stupid" as "powerful," when that's their experience…

[deleted]

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#108

Post by WhyCause »

lapetitejort wrote: post #74
necovek wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure why would you think that... If a period is to make a statement firmer, ellipsis does it triple... Like that, right? ;)

...I have a coworker who starts nearly every sentence thus so, as if continuing from the last sentence, even if you haven't talked to him in a few days.

I use the ellipsis at the start of an IM sentence primarily when I've accidentally hit enter mid-thought.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#109

Post by 72deluxe »

parliament32 wrote: post #87
72deluxe wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how is real-time chat “supposed to” work? It presents a text box to type into. The text that I type in there is proper English, with correct punctuation and sentence structure. I don’t see how it being real-time suddenly means you need to abandon that. In the same way, face to face communication doesn’t suddenly abandon inflection or tone simply because it is real-time.

And again, I think it comes down to culture. In your workplace, you're in a room with your coworkers: do you ask "Excuse me everyone, could I have a moment of your time? Does anyone know the status on the internal project Crusade Against Initialisms? Thanks in advance!" or do you say "yo what's the latest on CAI?". In our org, Slack is the same as talking in person (since we, you know, can't do that anymore thanks to…

Probably cultured related, like you say.

In both instances they disturb the train of thought which is why I am not a huge fan of open plan offices, nor instant messaging during coding and concentrating. It’s why libraries don’t have buzzers and bells going off.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#110

Post by [deleted] »

u801e wrote: post #104
adjkant wrote: post #41

The message beyond the HN title actually has potential. However, the author focuses in some odd places for me. As far as punctuation, ending periods actually have negative emotion in text vernacular now for younger audiences and should almost never be used in 1-1 messaging. Exclamation points, commas, and question marks, great! For abbreviations, it's simply know your audience. You should use them when everyone in th…

> As far as punctuation, ending periods actually have negative emotion in text vernacular now for younger audiences and should almost never be used in 1-1 messaging. It seems that people read too much into the intent (imagined or real) in a text message rather than just the content. As an older user, I perceive messages that use text spelling (e.g. u instead of you or prolly instead of probably) as unprofessional, bu…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN