Well, Art, I think a lot of the nuances of human communication get lost here - that's why it's harder for people to catch onto jokes, or why they tend to take offense at minor things. Many of the aspects of communication are missing here, so people tend to fill in the blanks with their own preconceptions. it could be that our preconceptions tend to be negative, and that may be why people on the Internet seem to take a negative view of things that can be viewed in various ways.
Because of that, we have to bend over backwards to be positive in what we say here. You know, kind of like talking to your kids, or maybe to your ex-wife. Well, maybe not THAT...
-Joe Offer-