[hn_user2]

I think tone affects whether one wants to engage in disagreement. If I disagree with someone but they have an incredibly incendiary tone, I want nothing to do with a discourse.

If someone disagrees but has a rational tone, I am more willing to voice my disagreements.

For me, tone effects my engagement with opposition, not whether or not I oppose something.

I would argue that without the "mean" tone, people might stick around twitter and have a discourse about their disagreements, and with the "mean" tone people are more likely to just bail and complain outside the platform.

Obviously we don't have a control group, so we have nothing to compare what twitter is doing right now against something else directly.