Comment by nkrisc

At the end of the day, if I need something from someone, I'll contort my discourse in any way necessary to achieve the end I need. Even if it means tip-toeing around someone who's extra sensitive. I'm not out to make my life harder. And to be clear, when I say "direct" I'm implying neutrality. I'm not talking about direct, yet antagonistic, questioning (which I'd argue is less direct than neutral questioning).

In person communication is less of an issue because you can use things like body language and tone to take the edge off.

However I've found through experience that the more words you add, the number of possible interpretations increases, and the likelihood you get a relevant answer decreases. Back to the example at hand, maybe it would make sense to chain two distinct queries together: Did you try sshd? If so, what was the result?

It's my belief that in written communication, clarity of purpose is king.