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Could be either. Nevertheless, while tone is tricky in text, the writer is responsible for relieving ambiguity.

eliminating ambiguity is impossible. the reader should work to find the strongest interpretation of the writer's words

that’s a lot to expect of readers… good writing needs to give readers every opportunity to find the good in it.

It is a lot to expect of readers... It's also explicitly asked of us in this forum. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

fair point

it’s fine for a forum to try to have different expectations than the local cafe - that’s kind of like a host asking their guests to remove shoes before walking into their home. but it doesn’t really change a priori basic facts about good writing.

perhaps this is the appropriate forum to reference pg

https://paulgraham.com/writing44.html

https://paulgraham.com/essay.htm

It's also natural language though, one can find however much ambiguity in there as they can inject. It hasn't for a single moment come across as pretentious to me for example.

Think of all the tiresome Twitter discussions that went like "I like bagels -> oh, so you hate croissants?".

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