Adam, Your point is well taken. One difficulty of text-based communication is accurate identification of "tone." As many of us have seen in the online classroom, the tone of a writer is sometimes wrongly determined by the reader. You may have seen students create an altercation because of perceived tone in a posting, e-mail or request. That said, even if the tone is hostile (may be – especially if the town is hostile), it seems your approach may have the impact of reducing the hostility and moving the student toward a more productive attitude. Additionally, if there was inappropriate language, that should probably be addressed directly and separate from the course content issue. Thank you for your insights. Dr. S. David Vaillancourt