[cespare]

Another problem with reflexively pointing out something wrong is that it's easy to be mistaken when you're hasty. Then you have the walk back the criticism and admit you were wrong. (Or double down and quibble about what exactly you meant, if you're that kind of asshole. Dealing with these folks is very tiresome.)

This is a big reason why batch-based code review systems are great. I can quickly work through a pull request and point out every little thing that I notice because it's all a draft. Then I go back through and review my review. Sometimes things that I thought were problems are just things I didn't understand yet. Sometimes things I pointed out initially aren't even worth bringing up. And for the remaining points I can check that my feedback has the right tone and will come across well.

I really miss this cycle when I need to use something like google docs as a feedback mechanism, where all the comments I leave are immediately mailed out.

Slack is another system that encourages hasty responses. My critical feedback is better when I'm writing up an email and not participating in a realtime conversation.