Electronic messaging can be a pretty sterile medium. Without the subtle signals carried by tone of voice or facial expression, words can be interpreted quite differently than the author intended. For example, if somebody has made a mistake and receives the message "Nice job." , the message is open to interpretation. Was the sender just joking ( as might have been indicated by a smile and lighter tone of voice ), or was the message intended as an insult ( with a heavier tone of voice and no smile )?
To alleviate this confusion, several methods have been developed to send information about the tone of the message. Probably the most common are Smileys ( or emoticons ). If you look at this :) sideways, it becomes a happy face, indicating that the author means for the statement to be interpreted as if it was spoken with a smile. Several other examples, taken from the Internet's Complete Emoticons List include :
:-) the normal smiling face, appended to a sentence or an article, means 'this is a joke' or 'this is supposed to make you laugh'
:-( sad face, 'that comment makes me sad [mad]'
;-) mischievous wink ( take this message with a grain of salt)
%-} delirious laughter
8-O astonishment
There are many, many different types of smileys.
Another variation on this theme is to encase the emotion or facial expression in greater than and less than symbols, like:
<grin> or <g>
A few other techniques to provide emphasis include typing in all caps to simulate SHOUTING, and putting underbars at the beginning and end of a word to produce emphasis. For example:
HEY MIKE! Are you going to lunch ?
and
That's what I _told_ you!
Be warned though that just like real life, too much shouting in a conversation is considered rude. Besides, if you use something like SHOUTING too much, you dilute it's effect.
Remember: One who highlights the whole book highlights nothing. ;-)
In summary: keep in mind that the person on the other end of the wire can't see you, and that the odd smiley can help tell them what you _mean_.
