Opinions on DConf talks

H. S. Teoh hsteoh at quickfur.ath.cx
Tue Jun 25 17:15:40 PDT 2013


On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 09:58:59AM +1000, Manu wrote:
> On 26 June 2013 08:16, Jonathan M Davis <jmdavisProg at gmx.com> wrote:
[...]
> > I was very surprised by how many valuable discussions and
> > interactions took place outside of the talks. I don't think that
> > that value can be overestimated. For instance, I suspect that almost
> > all of us view Manu somewhat differently from having interacted with
> > him in person. He's still somewhat abrasive in person but nothing
> > like he is online. You get a very different view of someone from
> > interacting with them in person, and I found that many discussions
> > were far more effective when we had the opportunity to discuss stuff
> > in person informally rather than in the newsgroup (as valuable as
> > discussions here can be).
> >
> 
> Brutal! ;)

Heh... I must say, watching Manu's talks gave the necessary context to
interpret his online writing style, which are actually *not* abrasive as
some might construe them to be. It's a case of "lost in transit": online
text is notoriously bad at conveying the author's emotions and tone of
voice (that is to say, not at all), so an offhand joke or casual remark
can be wrongly taken to be a personal attack when there is no such
intention on the part of the author. Getting to know a person (in person
:-P) makes a big difference in how you interpret what he writes.

That's why meeting in person makes a huge difference. :) Online video
chats (e.g. Skype) help somewhat, but I still feel that Skype is missing
something from actual in-person contact.


T

-- 
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters
will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare.  Now, thanks
to the Internet, we know this is not true. -- Robert Wilensk


More information about the Digitalmars-d mailing list