It's important to distinguish between cynicism/negativity and terseness. Good comments are just that: comments. They contain no emotional content at all and

It's important to distinguish between cynicism/negativity and terseness. Good comments are just that: comments. They contain no emotional content at all and make a technical point. Nothing more, nothing less. Of course, some flavor of tone is unavoidable in written or spoken language, but if terseness or conciseness is labeled as mean or cynical, then I think that's fine (and irrelevant).