Terry Pratchett claims that a person's mental stability is inversely proportional to the number of exclamation marks they use in a document. An exclamation mark is a powerful
literary device. It should not be added
hither and thither all over your message, as this
degrades its impact, and infers that the
author does not know how to use them correctly. Either that, or the author is in a state of
profound and
hysterical excitement. In his own words : "Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of someone who wears their underwear on their head. " Multiple exclamation marks are used ironically in a number of web comics, notably
Jerkcity, which uses them to parody the
over-zealous and cynical marketing speak of the
Disney Corporation among others (#424). They are also part of the
lingua franca of
AOL and
IRC.
(Although I should mention that an otherwise well adjusted friend of mine is guilty of using them a lot.)