Random love

[afuna]

I really love, about #dw, that I am not made to feel socially awkward when I bring up technical stuff. Even via text, the feeling of blankfaced uncomprehending silence comes across very clearly, and it's very uncomfortable.

I also love that others bringing up issues in a non-technical manner is also welcome. (Though I sometimes worry that when someone says something in a non-technical fashion, I reply too-technically, using terms that are unfamiliar with the other person. )

It's hard, sometimes, to gauge where someone else is, technically, but for the most part, it seems to me that things have worked out both ways. I've had to worry before about potential mistranslations from geek-to-normal and normal-to-geek, and potential alienation on either side, and it feels so good to not have to worry about it here.

Comments

[afuna]

I think we're talking about similar things, coming from a different angle, but possible to meet in the middle. That is, one thing I love about #dw is that you can talk in abstractions and people will grok, but you can also slip into slightly more technical detail without making people uncomfortable.

I feel... welcome there, and not as if I'm imposing or being socially awkward when I say something geeky. It feels as though, if my tech-talk happens to be over the heads of the people I'm talking with, which doesn't happen often, but could! the conversation can be deflected to more common language, without someone either suddenly going silent, or else saying something passive aggressive about how they just can't understand/will never be technical where I'm coming from.

(I'm trying to figure out why that last bothers me so much; I think because it feels like I'm talking to a wall. I'm all for using less technical language, but I am also aware that I sometimes go into things more technically than others would; having someone say "well, the language you use is foreign to me, we'll never be able to understand each other, ever, so I'm not going to even try to comunicate," prematurely shuts down the conversation. And it feels very alienating, as well.)

I'm used to feeling socially inept because I have a hard time explaining more abstract stuff; I tend to mix in my idea of the big picture directly with the implementation details, when it's something I need to do the code for, and then I'm hit by the horrid sinking realization that people are looking at me with blank politeness and some impatience (whooo social anxiety!).

But being looked at as an idiot, for any reason, happens much much less in #dw than it has in other places.

ETA:

Oh, oh, also forgot to say that I'm coming at this primarily from the point of view of someone who's been made to feel awkward about using more technical language (as if that weren't obvious *grin*), but that both technical and non-technical are welcome. Comfortable?

It's kinda neat.