Ah, you may not be acquainted with English punctuation.

The ? (question mark) and ! (exclamation point) when combined so ?! usually denotes (connotes?) baffled incredulity[0] or something similar.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark

From good ol' Wiki P, "The exclamation mark is sometimes used in conjunction with the question mark. This can be in protest or astonishment ("Out of all places, the squatter-camp?!"); a few writers replace this with a single, nonstandard punctuation mark, the interrobang, which is the combination of a question mark and an exclamation point." ps: when Wiki P says 'a few' here please read 'hardly any'.

Thanks a lot for explaining! The same is true in Dutch, perhaps I should have phrased my question as "what surprises you?".

Hey, no problem. Your initial statement struck me as a little odd too. I wouldn't have used quite so terse (?!) a response to you because HN etiquette frowns upon it - even though some cases (like perhaps this one) may warrant it.

>For those who wouldn't click cause it's "Female Founders" - so far it's been just as inspiring as Startup School (even for me as a man).

I'm not going to put words into your mouth. Can you explain what you meant by this using a different set of words?

Thanks for being so considerate. I'm not sure if I worded it poorly or if my opinion itself is so controversial. How about this?

"I know this conference is clearly targeted to women, but it's interesting and inspiring to all (aspiring) founders, so I recommend men don't let themselves be put off by that"

I think that gets your point across much better. It's just that people are so sensitive around the issues of gender/race/what-have-you that one needs to choose their words very carefully.

Yes, that's true, and I guess something that gets as many views and upvotes as that comment is normally bound to get some criticism or misunderstanding anyway :) Thanks again!

> Ah, you may not be acquainted with English punctuation.

Most of us are familiar with passive aggressiveness, though. Playing dumb in the face of it is one way of deflecting it.

Yep this is closer to my intention :) kmfrk were clearly surprised by something but there was no indication what. I appreciate that igravious he took the time to explain nonetheless!