I started a recent post with "I've heard folks on RfM refer to Bill Maher in the same reverential tones tbms use for Joseph Smith."

I thought this was an obvious tongue-in-cheek comparison and that no one would think I was trying to be literal. However, to my surprise and disappointment, my statement above elicited a surprisingly vitriolic response from someone who said, among other things, "Your statement is the rankest and most dishonest kind of hyperbole." You can imagine my dismay to learn that a statement I had intended as light-hearted and innocuous was actually more rank and dishonest than the hyperbole used by Hitler in blaming the Jews for Germany's loss of the Great War and subsequently used to justify their genocide.

Unfortunately, written communications, particularly those hastily hashed out on a smartphone, are prone to misinterpretation. I would like to know if there is protocol on rfm to clarify that a remark is sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek, exaggerated, etc? Maybe I need to start using smiley faces or placing warnings such as "SARCASM AHEAD!" In all seriousness, it is not my intent to offend anyone on rfm and I would like to know if there is something I can do to prevent misinterpretation of my posts.

It's not about misunderstood sarcasm. It was said in poor taste. We are here to recover from mormonism. Please don't compare anybody here to tbms worshiping their hero, Joe Smith. That's disrespectful to your audience and inappropriate in this setting.

Thanks for the insight ette.

It's no big deal. I enjoyed your post and what you had to say. I'd say most of us have been through a lot with this crazy cult, which explains why we get kinda touchy about it sometimes.

As much as I dislike them, after 20 years of e-mailing, last year I had to resort to the :) smiley face to denote joking.

A net acquaintance uses <Sarcasm on> and <Sarcasm off> in her posts on an entertainment forum I read now and then.

Take cheer that I understood you perfectly when I read your post earlier today.

I've seen tags similar to html tags used to denote sarcasm...

<sarc> Just luv church... </sarc>

Beyond that, I have found ... "you spins the wheel, you takes your chances..." :)

Maybe a "SA" in a special font to denote SARCASM AHEAD is warranted. Not the first time a sarcastic comment has gone right over somebody's head or been misinterpreted.

Ron Burr

Just try to remember that there are no facial expressions or voice tones in a text only forum that normally change or validate the meaning of the words.

That's all.

Hi, procrusteanchurch,

I think that the above suggestions concerning visible marks to denote sarcasm or facetiousness are good ideas. There have been several times when some people interpreted a post differently than the writer's intention.

I'm glad that you brought it up, and happier still that you were not totally serious, as I was also unaware that there was joking in your original post.

It's very easy, especially on sensitive subjects, to misunderstand the intensity of what someone writes. For example, I had no impression at all that the person who complained was saying that you were as bad as you say you took it. It was very clear that the other poster was critical --- but I interpreted the superlative adjectives in a context that was much less intense than you wrote that you did. Of course, you may have been writing facetiously again, I don't know --- which just points up the need for us all to try to find clear and constructive ways to communicate.