Crash Course on Net-Communication Do you feel chatting on the net is a somewhat restraining way of getting across your messages to fellow beings? True, there is much more to communication than plain words. For instance, it spells disaster when you try to tell jokes without the use of your own cheerful laughter and the occasional raised eyebrow. And ordinary everyday messages tend to be interpreted in other ways than you intended when using just the plain letters on your keyboard. Take for instance the innocently looking "Thank you very much for your help". Accompanied by a smile in real life, this sentence is taken as it's meant, as an expression of gratitude. On the net people don't know your personality or your facial expression. So "Thank you very much for your help" could very likely be taken as a sarcastic remark, and as a sign that the advice offered by the others is of annoyance to you. Rule No.1 for communication on the net is, accordingly: Be as nice and polite as you possibly can. At least when you don't know the person(s) you're talking to very well. Look twice on the message you're about to send, evaluate if it could be misunderstood. And add smileys. Lots of smileys. The sentence "Thank you very much for your help :-)" has a much greater potential of getting across correctly. Look at the colon, the hyphen and the parenthesis sign, and you will see a smiling face. At least when you tilt your head 90 degrees leftwards and rest your ear on your left shoulder. And that's all there is to smileys. Except that there are lots of them. The hit list of smileys: :-) Smiling (sarcastic or joking) :-D Big laugh ;-) Cheeky :-( Sad and/or upset :-I Indifferent :-> Biting sarcastic remark :-O Shocked :-@Screaming :-S A rather incoherent remark, if you ask me >:-> A really devilish remark :----> You lie (like Pinocchio) 8-# Dead (braindead) The hit list of abbreviations: IMHO In My Humble Opinion AFK Away From Keyboard BRB Be Right Back ROFL Rolling On Floor Laughing TX/THX Thanx WB Welcome back BTW By The Way CU See You CUL8R See you Later TYL Talk To You Later LOL Laughing Out Loud OIC Oh, I see IRL In Real Life GL Good Luck