[dhosek]

It seems to me that the problem isn’t that remote meetings suck but that meetings suck. My writing group meets remotely because (a) covid and (2) one of the members moved to Ohio from Chicago. We manage not to have the issues about people interrupting etc., likely because we (a) care about what we’re doing and (2) actually that caring about what we’re doing really covers it. We do have structure in that we’re workshopping 2–3 stories per session and we have a four-part agenda for each story (aboutness, likes, suggestions, questions). Everybody has done the necessary homework before the meeting (in this case read the stories and written up their notes), but the structure means that we avoid a common workshop trap of everybody just reading their notes to the group and since you know your notes will go to the writer, you don’t need to feel obligated to say everything you’ve written down.

Thinking about this, I can see pretty clearly how this could be translated into work meetings pretty easily and fits with a lot of the other commentary here.

But bottom line, either the meetings will suck or they won’t and what matters is not whether they’re in-person or remote but how they’re run.

[j16sdiz]

> ... (a) covid and (2) one ...

> ... because we (a) ... and (2) actually

Why are you (consistently) follow "(a)" with "(2)"? Is this an AI thing?

[bowsamic]

I think it’s a quirky thing

[madaxe_again]

How dare you judge someone else as quirky? This is the most antisocial thing anyone has ever done.

Apologise, now.

[bowsamic]

Any negativity you read into it was a projection

[bradknowles]

That’s funny, because I didn’t even notice it.

In my own writing, I usually try to be very consistent, unless I am intentionally trying to make a joke or keep things light. And in those cases, I am very deliberate in my use of mixing the styles.

But in reading someone else do this, I didn’t even notice.

[tired-turtle]

I suspect to emphasize enumeration so readers don’t incorrectly parse the sentence. But the text would be even clearer had these speech patterns been omitted altogether.

[WesolyKubeczek]

I'm way more irked by (2) following (a). It's (a), (b), (c), or (1), (2), (3), or (а), (б), (в), but for chrissake, don't mix the styles.

[dhosek]

Hey, keep complaining and I’ll give you (ⅲ), (四), (〥), (༦), (٧), (๘) and (᥏).

[WesolyKubeczek]

Can't wait until you bring in the anatomical parts of Egyptian script. ;)

[refulgentis]

Not in this thread yet, not talking down to you, apologies if tone comes across that way: jokes aside, noticed you're OP, and I'm very curious what the intent was here.

[littlekey]

Perhaps dhosek is a fae entity or trickster spirit of some sort, and we're all better off not questioning them too closely.

[dhosek]

I started doing (a)—2 in my twenties, as a joke, and now it’s ingrained in me that I have to consciously stop myself and, frankly, I’d rather not.