It occurs to me that cobra and fearless/deraven may be operating from different definitions of "assumption," one negative and the other positive, or at least neutral.
My hypothesis, after hastily reading through this debate, is that by "assumption," fearless et al. mean extrapolating beyond the evidence, thinking you can read the other person's mind. I'm thinking that they're really meaning "unwarranted assumption." They're taking it as borderline insulting, i.e., disrespectfully (and arrogantly) thinking you know what's in someone else's head without bothering to ask.
OTOH I think that by "assumption," cobra just means imagining where the other person might be coming from in order to orient yourself, trying to see the other person's POV. I think he means it respectfully, as in giving the other person the benefit of the doubt, putting yourself in their shoes, etc.
