: Preventing unintentional reading between the lines I'm a really literal writer. I don't write stuff that makes people "read between the lines." Problem is, people still always read between the

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Q: How do I make my writing have only 1 clear, literal meaning to prevent unintentional alternative interpretations?

A: By asking question that have only one answer.

e.g.: How far is it from Aberdeen to London according to Google Maps?

No, wait - skip that - here's a better one:

e.g.: What's one plus one (assuming you're a mathematician not a chemist)?

Questions with a narrow focus do not invite questions, comments or debate. They are answerable with very little effort; perhaps just a quick internet search.

(I was going to spin off into a spiel about other types of questions that seem to invite people to interpret (or misinterpret) them according to their own nature, perceptions, knowledge-base, cognitive development, level of intelligence (intellectual, social, emotional or otherwise) and other such personal factors, and I was going to express my opinion that these are the interesting questions in life, but then point out that they have no place in this community because of the rules governing (rightly or wrongly (in the eyes of those who desire life to be other than what is is)) what is allowed (or not) here; but then I thought 'better not'.)

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Your question is mainly about SE-Posts, but you asked in Writing.se so as such I´ll give a general writing Answer.

Technical Writing:

Misinterpretation always points to ambiguities in your writing. You may think you are concise, but the fact alone that you get these responses are proof that you are not. Try to find out where the ambiguity comes from and try to refine your text. It´s sometimes not too easy to do this, as your own view is colored by your existing prejudice. Trying to get a little distance to your writing and then come back again helps sometimes. That said, as long as you are not writing actual code, you won´t ever get to 100% - the viewer brings with them their own prejudice and you can´t change that

Writing as Art/Entertainment:

As with any art-from, interpretation is at the viewers discretion. There is nothing you can do about it - it´s feature not a bug!

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The question of yours on SE that was deleted has to do with hormonally influenced voting. Do you not perceive why this would sound like a gender-biased question?

To answer the question you pose here, Simple. Bold the exact question you are asking, with "Question" preceding it, and state that your words are to be taken at face value. Let me demonstrate:

Answer: Bold the exact question and state that your words are to be taken at face value.

You can add a flourish, like saying, "I hope I am not insulting anyone here. It is not my intent."

With that demonstration of self-awareness, people will understand that you are saying "Do not read between the lines."

Edit: I assume that you make the effort before posing the question to run your question through common 'sensitivity filters.' Example, Am I using denigrating language? Am I using humor that is in poor taste? Am I attempting to write clearly without allowing personal idiosyncracies to detract from my question? One can look at their post and ask what simple ways it might be misinterpreted and then correct it to be more clear. Similarly, if someone says that something is offensive, the post can be edited.

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When you ask a question, people assume you are asking for a reason, that you intend to use the answer to make some decision. There is no such thing as "just a question".

The reason they read between the lines is because you have not made it apparent why you are asking this question.

Thus if you want to keep people from reading between the lines, make sure they also understand why you are asking, or what you intend to do with the answer, etc.

An example:

I'd like to improve my answers, it would help me if the down votes explained what they think is wrong with this one.

Or something similar. If you don't make clear your motive behind your message (intent, purpose, reason), people will guess at it, and often assume that motive is nefarious or tricksy. That's just the nature of this beast the Internet.

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