e-mail lists (slightly O.T., but not much)

The last day's exchange has made me think for a moment about e-mail
lists... and I note that several people mentioned that they are prone
to "flame wars."

My guess is that it is the nature of this medium, where emotional
"constraints" and non-verbal communication do *NOT* pertain...
The "emoticon" does not quite do the job (!!)

Dan Stearns has mentioned this phenominon....

I suppose such "miscommunication" also took place in letter writing a
century ago... and millennia before (??)

I simply wanted to ask, and it's not *TOTALLY* O.T. given some of the
recent events here... if anyone knows of any recent studies profiling
this phenominon. Seems like a fertile field for *some* kind of
research into communications, psychology and technology (??)...

Please inform.... (??)
___________ ____ __ __ _
Joseph Pehrson