Things That Simply Don't Work on the Internet

[Austin]

List things that may work in actual, face-to-face conversation but just don't fly well on the internet. Two things come immediately to mind.

Sarcasm
This is a big one, imo. It really depends on the person reading the message but sarcasm can be severely misinterpreted often in the internet. Even if the reciever does get that you're being sarcastic the severity of your tone can also be easily miscalculated. Of course, you can always avoid it with a cheap trick, but does anyone really find that appealing?

"What, no comeback?"
Berating people for not replying to a challenge/insult fast enough hardly works out on the internet, because if a person is slow to respond it's usually because they're up to something else. Often it backfires, especially if the reply is "Yeah, I was out in the real world having a life, sorry....".

Any others?

[hsb39]

Irony, not quite sarcasm but in the same spectrum. If you make a post spoofing some kind of thing it isn't always as obvious, although it can be done.

[Meego]

The way you can exaggerate words in jokes and things like that don't always work to be honest. The way you say things can change the meaning of it but that doesn't really come through on the internet...

[K4KING]

Jokes. Some jokes are funny, but some other jokes require good timing and a great sense of humor.

Emotions. Yes there are emoticons that show are emotion, but that does not mean that we really show our emotions. I can pretend to be happy with my chatmate and compliment him here and there, but in reality I'm as mad as a beaver on steroids.

[hsb39]

Another one is laughter, lol simply doesn't work, it just means "I acknowledge that that was amusing", I use "haha" if needed but that can be taken as sarcasm (they cross over here).

Also puns, a lot of the humour in puns comes in the way that it is said.

[Xinnamin]

Intended mood/tone. Very often I can't tell whether someone was intending to be serious, light-hearted, angry, amused, whatever. Subtleties fall under this too; you have to be blatant with your intended tone otherwise people with misinterpret it. Apparently the stuff I type sometimes comes out as overly serious or borderline angry when I'm trying to act amused, or simple annoyances can easily seem blown out of proportion, or silly are often taken seriously when they're not supposed to be, or you make a silly comment and think someone's taking it seriously when they're not. The list goes on; it's rather annoying really.

[athenian200]

I've actually had sarcasm work on the Internet, but I agree that the "speed" thing would never work.

One trick a lot of people don't think of is to use italics to emphasize certain words... it can really help with humor in some cases.

[Y2K3]

The biggest thign for me is just communication. As much as I like talking to people online, it's not the same as in person. Online interactions just don't have as energy or fun as being in person does.
When I'm really bored, talking to peopel online just doesn't help because of this. I need actual human interaction.

[hsb39]

No matter how useful emoticons may be to some people, facial expressions and bodily movements absolutely must be done in person...

This is my third post, simply because I think of something new every time, knowing my this won't be my last.

[DayDreamer]

No matter how useful emoticons may be to some people, facial expressions and bodily movements absolutely must be done in person...

This is my third post, simply because I think of something new every time, knowing my this won't be my last. Well that was gonna be my post. lol
the lack of emotion on the internet casues many fights. You might mean one thing but the other person views it as something completely different.