[olavk]

I'm surprised that you see politeness and qualification of criticism as "sucking up". But if constructive and moderated criticsm is seen as a sign of weakness, it kind of explains why unconstructive criticism and flaming is rampant on the internet.

[thinkingisfun]

I'm surprised that you see politeness and qualification of criticism as "sucking up".

I don't, I see sucking up as sucking up. E.g. If someone says all black people should be killed, do I even have a right to assume they have great, superb, excellent intentions? Should I really start my response with lauding those? Nah. There's limits.