Wired Magazine article
http://tinyurl.com/dogs6Quote from article:
According to recent research published in the Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, I've only a 50-50 chance of
ascertaining the tone of any e-mail message. The study also shows
that people think they've correctly interpreted the tone of e-mails
they receive 90 percent of the time.
"That's how flame wars get started," says psychologist Nicholas
Epley of the University of Chicago, who conducted the research with
Justin Kruger of New York University. "People in our study were
convinced they've accurately understood the tone of an e-mail
message when in fact their odds are no better than chance," says
Epley.
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I've been saying this for a long time. Nice to find out I was correct.