[fieryskiff11]

The response was fine, in the same tone as the original request even if the first one was offensive by accident. A kind, functioning human would be puzzled at the slightly blunt response and re-evaluate the whole conversation.

They would not go to a private channel, knowing that they would get blasted for such a response in a public forum, and get even more offensive. Plus, any non-native that has an advanced enough understanding of English to use the phrase 'thinly veiled extortion' can also control the tone of their requests. No need to defend IBM here.

[fogof]

You can hardly say that they switched to a private channel because they knew "that they would get blasted for such a response in a public forum" when the comment they were responding to was the one that suggested the switch to email.

[fieryskiff11]

The comment suggested email for payment, not an extortion accusation (i know accusation is bit too much of a strong word, i couldnt find anything better)

Plus, they did get blasted just because the email was made public. To me, that shows that they wanted a more private channel.