Yes it seems to be the biggest challenge, even more so "online" to overstand the meaning of someone's words when reading or hearing them. I did overstand Teff as asking if she had seeked her past relatives in her family tree. But I can see how the I could have seen it as a negative remark.
As Marley said: Listen to what I say to overstand what I am saying (something like that). If InI just listened/read the words of the question without any subjective feeling that it could have been a negative question, then we can overstand it without putting the negative spin on it. If Teff had meant it in a negative way I believe he would have added some identifier to it to make it a negative. Since many people do make sarcastic remarks and negative remarks and try to give thereby a sentence/statement another meaning opposite to what they are saying (know what I mean?) it brings confusion among people about what the message really is. It is word trickery.
I will try to only read/listen to the word and not try to put it in a negative if it seems like it could be layed out two ways.