Tact Filters

[pne]

Someone (I think damned_colonial or dotaturls) linked to a page on "tact filters" a while ago, but I misplaced the link. I found it again today through an entry in geeketiquette.

Executive summary: some of the differences in communication "strategies" between geeks/nerds and "normal people" can be explained by the concept of a "tact filter" which is installed in different directions

Comments

[kait_the_great]

That's great. Thanks for sharing that. That's how I feel a lot of the time :)

[fledchen]

Interesting. I'm going to repost this (with attribution to the original author, of course) as a Nerd Theory entry.

[zompist]

I think that's a nice way of saying that nerds have lousy social skills.

The problem with the analysis is, I think, that nerds often don't apply tact to incoming messages. They're offended and combattive if you talk to them the way they talk to others.

Not that all nerds are prickly, but many are. (And if they're not in person, they are on Usenet.)