[rjtobin]

A related problem is the complete lack of tone in text-based discourse, and the brain's penchant for subconsciously assuming text was written in a certain tone, with no mental "error bars" around this assumed tone.

I see on Twitter all the time conversations that escalate to arguments, usually starting with a minor disagreement that one party reads as more hostile than was perhaps intended. It takes a lot of effort to write text that cannot be misread in a negative light, and people usually don't bother.

Listened to a podcast with Matt Mullenweg recently about remote working, and his company advocates a policy of "assume positive intent" when reading messages from colleagues. I think this is helpful: share the burden of avoiding misinterpreted tone between both the writer (who currently shares the blame usually) and the reader.