The way I see it is that
only a small percentage of communication involves actual words, 7% is the figure most often quoted*. According to some smarter boffins than me, 55% of communication is visual (body language, eye contact, etc.) and 38% is vocal (pitch, speed, volume, tone of voice and so on) so without these visual and aural queues it can be very easy to take something in a way that it wasn't necessarily intended. This combined with B3ta's more relaxed atmosphere can occasionally cause issues.

*Numbers are approximate recollections from a Customer Support Rep course I took a couple of years ago by www.servicestrategies.com/solutions/career-development/scp-career-certification/
(bill, Wed 9 Sep 2009, 16:31, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I am offended by your logic
Offended Sir!!
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Wed 9 Sep 2009, 16:36, Reply)

I am very sorry to hear that and would like to assure you that
neither my original post nor its content was in any way intended to offend and you have my sincerest heartfelt apologies. I hope this unfortunate incident will not sully your opinion of our companies products nor the effort we make to ensure that all of our customers problems are fixed in the quickest time possible with an appropriate solution for all parties concerned.

I told you it was from a customer service course!

;-)
(bill, Wed 9 Sep 2009, 17:05, Reply)

Hahaha
Very good! I accept your apology sir! :D
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Wed 9 Sep 2009, 17:07, Reply)

That may be part of it but I guess I sometimes feel like I'm the only one that can see the Emperor has no clothes on.

( girlinthehole, Wed 9 Sep 2009, 16:51, Reply)

I've never agreed with those statistics anyway
what you say is far far more than just 7% of communication.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 9 Sep 2009, 16:53, Reply)