Inappropriate Use of Digital Media

There was an unfortunate incident in my school when an administrator sent an email to all middle school/high school teachers using all capital letters and multiple exclamation points to emphasize certain parts of the message. One teacher responded that she was offended and felt that the use of capital letters and exclamation points was the digital equivalent of "being yelled at." While I understand her negative reaction to the text, I did not feel "the sting" that she did. Having said this, however, the message could have been much more professionally communicated through effective rhetoric and the situation could have been avoided entirely.