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A case for using punctuation in Slack

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Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#161

Post by jlokier »

Jedd wrote: post #148
tashoecraft wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you're writing small, short sentences, there is something off putting about periods. It's just part of the how text based communication has become. Emojis are good because words can be interpreted with a tone that was unintended, and can lead to all sorts of communication problems. It's small and simple, but an appropriate emoji helps convey our emotions in a way that is more difficult to in short, text based me…

> When you're writing small, short sentences, there is something off putting about periods. Well, that may be the case for some people, but I am not convinced it's the general case. Also, how do you write (delineate, identify, etc) small, short sentences without periods? I'm assuming people in a hurry - that don't have time for punctuation - do have time for tautological constructs? (small, short) ; )

> Also, how do you write (delineate, identify, etc) small, short sentences without periods?

oh that's easy

you just write one short sentence at a time

like this :-)

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#162

Post by Twisol »

stu2b50 wrote: post #155
jay_kyburz wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, I think the only appropriate time for an emoji is to acknowledge somebodies else's message but you don't have anything you want to say. A thumbs up or a celebrate.

I disagree, I think there's many times where a statement can clearly seem hostile, or jovial, at the same time, and adding some emojis to lean towards jovial will make it a 100% safe message. Sure, you can add context in other ways, but it's quick, easy, and effective. Is it unprofessional? Perhaps in an email, but I don't consider every slack message something that should be "professional" in tone. You don't speak p…

I have a small group of emoji that I turn to for this kind of color. :sweat_smile: for a note of self-aware awkwardness. :thinking: when I'm posing an idea without standing behind it too hard, or when my thoughts are continuing beyond the message I've just sent. A few others are not uncommon, but more situational.

(I'm using their Slack codes here, since I'm not sure I can just embed them directly in an HN comment...)

I tend to come across in text as very detail-oriented and precise, so some careful emoji usage helps recover some of the consideration that would normally be carried by tone or body language.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#163

Post by pixelpoet »

rdw wrote: post #146
greggyb wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a one-word response would seem more negative or less enthusiastic with a period, then I posit it was not carrying a positive or enthusiastic message in the first place. If I want someone to interpret a one-word answer as enthusiastic, I'll put a bloody exclamation point on it. And you get back to the real core of my point (though I could probably have been clearer). > Sounds pretty reasonable to me for SMS/WhatsAp…

Cool.

Bye.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#164

Post by iamdbtoo »

tobr wrote: post #105
iamdbtoo wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 interpr…

How you intepret those is absolutely a choice. If you do not have enough information to know 100% what the intention of the other person is, then wherever you land is a decision. If it's that the person is angry, that's your choice the same if you believe the person is not angry.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#165

Post by mjayhn »

neodymiumphish wrote: post #159
Jedd wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you're writing small, short sentences, there is something off putting about periods. Well, that may be the case for some people, but I am not convinced it's the general case. Also, how do you write (delineate, identify, etc) small, short sentences without periods? I'm assuming people in a hurry - that don't have time for punctuation - do have time for tautological constructs? (small, short) ; )

I see it done that way a lot where each small sentence is its own message. Even more annoyingly, they often do it in a main channel on Slack after the message they're responding to, instead of "replying in thread".

Purely anecdotal but I think it’s from irc/aim users (a lot of millennials/genx including myself) since long form communication wasn’t really a thing on there. I see some people write paragraphs as messages on discord servers and iirc that wasn’t technically even possible on irc and I feel like it’s even strange to see in the middle of lighter chatter.

Also slack threads are awful, imo. I can appreciate them in certain contexts like asking what tool everyone likes or where to grab dinner, but if your slack has become a place where complicated tech answers wind up in threads it makes searching so frustrating just due to the UX. Also they’re limited, or were, on features (code blocks never looked right, etc). I HATED when outages wound up in a slack thread and not a room which was too frequent at my last employer.

That #tagging/#threading feature available on the other slack/discord/teams competitor I can’t think of right now is something I really want.

I have to pay attention to not treating slack like irc quite a bit.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#166

Post by Twisol »

jlokier wrote: post #161
Jedd wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you're writing small, short sentences, there is something off putting about periods. Well, that may be the case for some people, but I am not convinced it's the general case. Also, how do you write (delineate, identify, etc) small, short sentences without periods? I'm assuming people in a hurry - that don't have time for punctuation - do have time for tautological constructs? (small, short) ; )

> Also, how do you write (delineate, identify, etc) small, short sentences without periods? oh that's easy you just write one short sentence at a time like this :-)

Worth noting that this carries a lot better in a medium like IRC or Slack, where the message framing implies an "end" in its own right. It looks a little strange in an HN comment, because they all come in the same single message.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#167

Post by [deleted] »

molszanski wrote: post #78
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 often interpret ellipses at the end of a sentence as an inability to express oneself in a written form.

[deleted]

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#168

Post by iamdbtoo »

soggybutter wrote: post #112
iamdbtoo wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree that putting a period in casual textual communication is inherently hostile. I also don't agree that those who do are just simply unaware of the chaos they are causing. At the end, though, you're still making a judgement about someone with very little information and you have a choice not to do that.

You're right and I do try not to do that. But as someone who's used text based communication every day for more than half my life, there's definitely some unconscious bias I've developed towards specific behaviors that I don't think is random. I've talked to plenty of folks who feel the same, and there are a lot of memes out there that support it. At the end of the day, it's up to you as the communicator to try and c…

I know it's a thing and I have felt it myself in the past.

What I really have trouble with is that we all admit it's most likely a faulty interpretation, but we still expect the other person to manage it for us. If everyone gave each other the benefit of the doubt more, none of this would be necessary.

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#169

Post by elwell »

tashoecraft wrote: post #138
Bedon292 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always attempt to write, even on Slack or other chat programs, in such a way that no unintended tone comes across. To me it feels like I have failed in communicating if an emoji is necessary to convey a message. I honestly cannot think of anywhere I could use them to make a message clearer. But, I will be asking a few folks if there is an issue with my communication, and if I can be more clear in any way. Including…

I think with just the shear amount of messaging that is occurring in todays age combined with the lines being blurred between work and home makes communication rapidly evolve. What one things is clear communication with no ambiguity, another might disagree. An example is responding back to a message with "Ok.". I see many over, say, 50 do this much more often, but to many under, say 30, this is taken as very passive…

> An example is responding back to a message with "Ok.". I see many over, say, 50 do this much more often, but to many under, say 30, this is taken as very passive aggressive.

Definitely have experienced this.

> shear

sheer

> What one things is clear communication with no ambiguity, another might disagree.

thinks

> todays

today's

> age combined with the lines being blurred between work and home makes

age, combined with the lines being blurred between work and home, makes

> I think with just the... ...makes communication rapidly evolve

I think just the... ...makes communication rapidly evolve

> over, say, 50 do / under, say 30, this

over, say, 50 do / under, say, 30 this

> passive aggressive

passive-aggressive

Re: A case for using punctuation in Slack

#170

Post by [deleted] »

Bedon292 wrote: post #139
musingsole wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a new or unknown convention/perception (as shown by the article posted here discussing the pissed period in 2013). I can't tell you why you would've been unaware of it, and I certainly wouldn't want to offend by guessing! :P A lot of it has to be context. If I'm talking to someone new, I'm going to try very hard to read very little into the text they've sent me. If it's a message from my partner -- yeah, eve…

I am really curious just how common this is. I know that article existed in 2013, but how many people read it and agreed with it? If you produced a large survey across a broad age range and diverse set of background, how common is this? The fact that I have never come across this before today makes me feel biased towards it being rare. But the very existence of this thread seems to indicate it is relatively common. I…

[deleted]
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