Tone is not apparent on a list like this one, so I think it's
important to spell out one's opinions and offer citations.
You're talking about several different things here.
Some people spend way too much effort worrying about "tone." Rational
dispute--giving a different opinion, and backing it up with facts and/or
analysis--is sensible. It often leads to interesting discussions, sheds
new light on many things, etc. Emotionally based dispute--complaining
that you just don't like the way someone phrased something, or that you
just don't like them personally, is not rational dispute. It does not
offer any information, or shed any new light on whatever subject is at
hand, or give any real reason why someone disagrees with something.
As for citations--Yes, they're a good thing, but an email list is not an
academic article or dissertation. This is a recreational list. Not
everyone has the time to write a detailed essay every time they want to
discuss a topic, nor are their reference works always directly at hand.
I'd say if and when people can and want to offer citations, great. But I
don't think you can reasonably obligate people to provide them all the
time in this context.
Statements
like those Fran mentions are sometimes used to emphasize that the writer
is not saying "always" or "never".
I don't think statements like "it's just my opinion" etc., are a good
way to convey that. There are many other, shorter, and more precise ways
to do it. For example:
By XXX date, most American families owned a sewing machine.
versus:
By XXX date, families had a sewing machine, at least that's my opinion,
of course you may disagree.
It's a soft area of research in many ways, with new information
found or new experiments attempted.
History is a soft enough science that some data will never be available,
and what there is can be interpreted in many different and equally
plausible ways. But this is a given.
Some of the statements are a
shorthand way of saying "This is my own research/experience and others
may find something different. I would be very interested to hear about
any examples in XYZ culture for the years __ to __."
If someone makes a statement of opinion, who else's would it be but
their own? If they make a statement of fact, of course it's their own
research, either from primary sources or from reading other people's
research/secondary sources. And of course someone else may have found
out some different facts or give a different opinion; maybe many people.
This is a given, and constantly saying so is meaningless. If you have
a definite area you're not sure about, or you want to solicit
information on a certain topic, it's more meaningful to say, for example:
"I got this information from my research on the clothing of middle-class
families in New York City, but it is not necessarily true for all areas
and social classes. I'm also interested in working-class families in New
England, has anyone done any research on them?"
Rather than:
"Of course this is just my research, someone else may have found out
something different, there are always exceptions, I always say never say
never."
"YMMV" (Your Mileage May Vary) covers differences in body size,
price ranges, etc. As long as people don't get too much into obscure
acronyms, or too use many assumptions so that their meaning is not clear.
I think it's better to define what's being qualified:
"These corset instructions work best for large busts"
rather than:
"These corset instructions work great for me, YMMV."
Having said all that--I only write to spec if you pay me. And you
couldn't possibly pay me enough to use any emoticon, or to say "never
say never" or some of the other pat phrases I see. I suppose I can't
expect anyone else to write to my specs (as above). But I also have the
right to say things the way I think is best.
Best,
Fran
Lavolta Press
http://www.lavoltapress.com
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