Actually, Steve did introduce himslef as playing that role when we did the BlogFest late last year. We seem to be in the midst of a very good demonstration of the emotional element that creeps into communication, no matter how hard we try to resort only to reason. It continues to strike me how easily words that might not cause offense spoken in person turn hurtful when committed to type, even (perhaps especially) electronic type. It would be interesting for this discussion of communication models to address the emotional issues. Perhaps Dan could address this in his discussion. Some studies suggest our so-called new brain, the cerebral cortex is our source of reason, and the more ancient brain stem and limbic system is where our emotions are said to lie. Bert Decker (www.bertdecker.com) holds that this “reptilian” old brain is the gatekeeper that communicators must break through before they can appeal to reason.