Nuance and politeness

Take   Friday, August 06, 2004, 03:30 GMT
Which is more polite?

1) It would be appreciated if you would send the information as soon as possible.

2) I would appreciate it if you would send the information as soon as possible.

I know that 1 is passive voice and 2 is active voice. I want to know which is considered more polite.
Steve K   Friday, August 06, 2004, 06:08 GMT
Both ar OK and similar and really interchangeable. This really is splitting hairs. No one would pause to take offense at either.

However.....strictly speaking 1) being more impersonal implies to me that the writer expects the action to be undertaken, a stronger sense of "you should" is implied. 2) is more polite or at least implies that it is not taken for granted that the task will be carried out. But you really have to ponder these for a while to feel any difference. Unless this is a love letter or something similar I would not worry about it.
CalifJim   Friday, August 06, 2004, 06:59 GMT
My two cents:

There is not an extreme difference between the two, but the second is a bit more polite -- for the same reasons Steve K already outlined. I think his remarks are right on.