Let us compare mythologies and movies

[Finduilas]

Originally Posted by Thenamir

<sigh> The fine art of sarcasm is lost.

Only over the internet. But really, when you are sarcastic, your sarcasm is usually pointed towards someone, and was yours directed towards me, Bethberry, or Folwren?

[The Saucepan Man]

In my humble opinion, '?' is to be preferred, leaving as it does a sense of the mystery, of searching out the unknown, of the pursuit of further knowledge. By contrast '.' is almost an obscenity, declaring as it does that there is no more to be said, a prejudicial epithet to the yearning of the human psyche to discover, to explore.

I quite agree with you, but you should follow your own counsel. While Eomer's contribution conveys a piquant sense of loss, while at the same time expressing a sense of hope that answers may yet be found, your addition of the "!" exagerrates the essential tone of the original statement by introducing a sense of bravado, outrage even, which punctuates the fragile mystery and thus brings the poignancy of the moment crashing brutally down in an exclamatory cacophony of despair.

[Beleg Cuthalion]

I had no idea this thread would turn out to be so interesting.















~Beleg

[Bêthberry]

. . .

I've often thought that Downers would be quite capable of carrying on extensive, convoluted conversations about nothing, and be quite entertaining in the process. And now my little "dot" proves it.

"." is, of course, not only grammatically a period or full stop for a sentence, but is also an enabling mark--"dot"--in extending names, titles and URLs on computers and the Internet. Thus, it is not a dead end or cold finality. It's probably closer to a hand shake in this use, linking people through introductions, greetings, beginnings, endings, middles. I am very pleased it has produced such a pleasant, interesting little thread.

[The Sixth Wizard]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

. . .

I've often thought that Downers would be quite capable of carrying on extensive, convoluted conversations about nothing, and be quite entertaining in the process. And now my little "dot" proves it.

"." is, of course, not only grammatically a period or full stop for a sentence, but is also an enabling mark--"dot"--in extending names, titles and URLs on computers and the Internet. Thus, it is not a dead end or cold finality. It's probably closer to a hand shake in this use, linking people through introductions, greetings, beginnings, endings, middles. I am very pleased it has produced such a pleasant, interesting little thread.

In other words, start discussing stuff!

[Folwren]

Thenamir hit the nail on the head. I think he said exactly what I was thinking when I chose the question mark.

[The Might]

I must confess that the fact that everyone has simply seemed to not take notice of my post, but instead talks about the proper use of dots and question marks doesn't really make much sense to me.
Perhaps a moderator would be so kind so as to delete my post, since it clearly doesn't fit in with your discussion.