I'd say frustrated, rather than defensive, perhaps — frustration because there is, in fact, confusion.
You want proof? OK:
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Me. I've been confused by the unavailability syntax, though I think I do actually understand what you intend by it now. That doesn't mean it wasn't confusing, but I guess I have to recuse myself as a witness.
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You. For example here. This is not any kind of criticism. I just note that the struck-through text indicates that it took 2 tries to get it right. At least, this indicates that getting it right is complex, not simple, and this relatively trivial piece of syntax is going to cause confusion if complex.
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@xwu. As before, here. It may have been momentary, but the recorded reaction was not "You got the right answer by the wrong argument", but "You got the wrong answer".
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@bjhomer. I think this is a great example of how the
*is going to be universally understood (outside this thread). Unfortunately, that isn't going to be the actual behavior.
You can clear up confusion, but that doesn't mean that the confusion didn't exist. You can explain a misunderstanding, but that doesn't mean the intent wasn't misunderstood.