It is well-known and well-documented that our ability to infer tone from electronic communications is poor, so your chances of being correct in judging his tone

It is well-known and well-documented that our ability to infer tone from electronic communications is poor, so your chances of being correct in judging his tone are not much over 50%: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239121 http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239121 That's better than chance, but not really enough to pass judgment on someone. This may be why you have been downvoted. It may also be that others read his tone (with 56% accuracy) differently. The tone of this message is meant to be neutral and informative.