> What we're discussing, however, is "striking a positive tone" in actual research papers. Yeah.. that's what pretty much every academic does. Most talk up th

> What we're discussing, however, is "striking a positive tone" in actual research papers. Yeah.. that's what pretty much every academic does. Most talk up the merits of their work and the general importance of their field. The idea's to be constructive, always looking for avenues of improvement. For example, if you test a new medical treatment and it's not great, you don't trash it as a failure but rather focus on how it can be improved to get more positive results. Though I'm starting to get the impression that you're reading "striking a positive tone" as meaning something other than what I'm seeing in those words. So to avoid talking past each other, what exactly are you seeing? And do you find it somehow problematic?