I think the positive priming caused greater affect than the "! :P", and I propose the hypothesis that it's the "loaded terms" that determine tone, largely.

They are most effective if applied to the issue at hand; but they are also effective if a fragment makes them appear to so apply (Any reasonable person who takes your advice would be a fool); and even their mere presence in the visual field will affect the reader (disguise, weak, fool). A strong example of this is swear words.

Your priming passage includes warm, life-affirming terms and fragments (as distinct from their denotation): "genuine", "compliment", "really are good", "I'm impressed with your". I'm suggesting it's not just that you were priming the reader with that logical interpretation, but that you were directly influencing their emotional state with your word choice.

I really do think the first-quoted commenter in the article was being sarcastic. Although he later claimed he wasn't, I find that hard to believe. I don't think it's just the words that are used; but that those words naturally emerge from a person's attitude. If they have a kindly approach to others (or even if they are just feeling happy and optimistic at the moment), it will be reflected in their word choice.

Unfortunately, optimistic, cheerful people tend not to make good engineers, given Murphy's Law, so there's sometimes a relative absence of good-will and affirmation online - including here, on HH.