While both parties are somewhat idiots for not formalizing and following up in writing (particularly given the $ and months between the text and actions), if someone sends me something and I reply by just a thumbs up I DO expect that to convey the same thing as “yes, yep, sure thing, I agree” I would not use it as a read receipt on a question.
At the same time, I would never expect a fricking texted emoji to indicate that a contract has been read and agreed to.
Whenever I’ve received a contract in digital form, I’ve had to append some version of my name and generally initials on each page to indicate they were received and read.
With texts, I’ve had messages still going out while new ones were coming in, resulting in stuff being received in a weird order. It’s not a reliable medium
