Comment by shakna

I haven't seen it as personal. You're noticing me, means something I'm doing, is noticeable. Something I'm doing hits some (probably automated) flags. Just asking the question to see where I'm running into things, where I haven't in the past few years, and I'm afraid I do think this one is a cultural thing.

I mentioned America, because I'm from Australia, and our two cultures, as often as we interact, do have moments where we fizzle and pop against each other. Calling someone sir or ma'am is a service in America. In Australia, it is liable to piss off the person you're talking to. What one sees as polite, often isn't for the other.

I don't see any snark in what I've said. I see a little frustration, but I don't see any attack on anyone. Which makes it hard to judge, why one thing is acceptable, and another isn't, when they hold the same gravitas and attitude. Again, a "What did I do, exactly?" not a "why are they picking on me".

Is it that snark and sarcasm are synonyms over there? They aren't here. Probably because Australia is a very sarcastic place (e.g. "Yeah, nah").

It it that I didn't add an extra frame, to de-escalate, before saying this was going to cause problems? That is something I often see foreigners feeling the need to do, that just doesn't happen here. If something is crap, we call it crap. Especially if we built it ourselves, and in business communications and court readings as often as face to face.

I already do change my tone on HN, from what works in the home country. Seems I need to change it further.

I didn't add an anecdote for this one, simply because it is well-trodden ground. That businesses run out of Excel, and run into various problems with compatibility, has more blogposts than the site could probably host. It isn't an interesting thing.

The only interesting bit, is that this is going to ruin the days of a few people, and they already know why. My comment was just an invitation to commiserate. Adding more, would direct the conversation more towards those who would criticise and judge the process, without acknowledging the business process is probably not changeable. I don't want to start flames here. I do want to follow the guidelines, because I do agree with them. And if I didn't, I wouldn't be here.