On the internet nobody can tell what you actually meant.

[andrewducker]

Given the following conversation:

Person A: "OMG THIS EPISODE OF THIS THING I LOVE WAS AWESOME!"
Person B: "Really? I thought it was a bit contrived/boring/silly/not up to usual standards for x/y/z/ reason..."

[Poll #1780923]

Comments

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

Were I to *write* that, I would mean something in the general area between "this surprises me, because I would have expected your reactions to be different. Still, no accounting for taste I suppose, to each his own, etc," and "That's odd, because I saw few redeeming features in it. Would you mind explaining to me what it was that you enjoyed, so maybe I can see them too?"

So I tend to assume that other people mean it in that way, unless they give contextual clues otherwise.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

This is pretty much my reading as well (perhaps mixed with a dash of "you're not pulling my leg, are you?")