Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

E-Commerce

E-Commerce

Last Night Linda called three times and I was totally zonked out. The phone is on the night stand next to my bed and I didn’t hear it. I guess it was a combination of fatigue, deteriorating hearing and deep REM sleep. She was upset when she got thru to me at around midnight, our time and one o’clock theirs. (She probably thought I was at the tavern…)

Details in a piece of literature are important. Nothing will poison the author’s credibility faster than tainted or embellished facts. While not all readers will know the difference, those who are drawn to a genre will. A reader with a passion for Detective Novels will over time develop an understanding for investigative techniques, procedures and all the nuances of blood, finger prints and DNA evidence. As a consequence the writer needs to be up to speed in the factual underpinnings of the genre in which they write.

Yesterday I worked on my airplane and ordered the last of the parts I will need to complete it. Ordering on line has taken E-Commerce to new heights and nowhere is it more evidenced than in catalogues and suppliers who have jumped on the band wagon of the internet spin on the old Catalog idea. It is so easy to miscommunicate in the world of emails and websites that are trying to sell things. For many the game “Who Shot John,” is clearly in evidence. For example, “It wasn’t my fault,” the vendor comes across, “you screwed up the order…” to which the customer replies, trying to remain professional, “I ordered this and you sent that.” Both parties are trying to express their views but gradually the emotion begins to seep in and things start getting personal.

On line is where the communications tend to deteriorate fastest and "mostest." That’s because the human interface is weakest in this mode. We communicate with words but there is much more than words being exchanged when two people stand face to face. Next worst is the telephone. At least here the communicators have tone of voice to supplement the words. On line all you have is a stream of Alfa- characters and often the party’s grasp of the English language is less than perfect. Vendors assume too much from customers and customers often don’t really know what they want and at best it’s hard to communicate what you aren’t sure of.

I guess the key to e-communications is the Kiss Rule. Say exactly what you want in as few words as possible. The more you write the more potential there is for confusion, not to mention, misspelled words. In addition are those incoherent and ambiguous thoughts. Remember a good piece of writing has three parts. Introduce it, say it and recap what you said.