I started using exclamation marks because of constant feedback that all sentences ending in periods is read as mean or something.
It is absolutely stupid needing to cater to people who read into things in the worst possible way, but it seems to be working.
For command vs questions, some people will feel obligated to treat any communication as a command and there isn’t anything I have found to avoid it. Just like how some people treat direct statements that something is required to mean it is optional.
This is me, but with my own emails. Even something like “Have a great day.” just reads like a “Go fuck yourself” in my head, regardless of context, and so I tend to overuse exclamation points to make the tone very clear. I’ve very much got the 'tism, so having clarifying punctuation and even the more accepted use of emoji in work communications has been an absolute blessing for me not immediately assuming the worst in a work communique.
The funny part is that due to experience, I read emails/internet comments with a lot of exclamation marks as someone being fake and snarky because that is the type of person I know in real life that uses excess exclamation marks. So for me it was extremely painful to force myself to use them when I think they are just there to placate people who are probably thinking that people who don’t use exclamation marks are meanies.
Yet few people understand that just like any other method of communication, using exclamation marks can mean either “bless your heart” in the loving way or the southern condescending way and they don’t actually clarify anything unless you know who is using it and in what context!
I don’t know if I have ever used an exclamation point in a work email.
My issue is usually how to phrase asking someone for something, when I am actually commanding them for something.
I started using exclamation marks because of constant feedback that all sentences ending in periods is read as mean or something.
It is absolutely stupid needing to cater to people who read into things in the worst possible way, but it seems to be working.
For command vs questions, some people will feel obligated to treat any communication as a command and there isn’t anything I have found to avoid it. Just like how some people treat direct statements that something is required to mean it is optional.
This is me, but with my own emails. Even something like “Have a great day.” just reads like a “Go fuck yourself” in my head, regardless of context, and so I tend to overuse exclamation points to make the tone very clear. I’ve very much got the 'tism, so having clarifying punctuation and even the more accepted use of emoji in work communications has been an absolute blessing for me not immediately assuming the worst in a work communique.
The funny part is that due to experience, I read emails/internet comments with a lot of exclamation marks as someone being fake and snarky because that is the type of person I know in real life that uses excess exclamation marks. So for me it was extremely painful to force myself to use them when I think they are just there to placate people who are probably thinking that people who don’t use exclamation marks are meanies.
Yet few people understand that just like any other method of communication, using exclamation marks can mean either “bless your heart” in the loving way or the southern condescending way and they don’t actually clarify anything unless you know who is using it and in what context!
Have a great day?
You should try it! Makes you seem like an enthusiastic team member, really.