The internet is such a vacuum, though. Having someone actually read your code at all is kind of like a massive compliment. That they take the effort to email

The internet is such a vacuum, though. Having someone actually read your code at all is kind of like a massive compliment. That they take the effort to email you about how much they hate it... In a weird way, it's kind of gratifying. Great artists are never recognised in their time ;-) But seriously, I think you can think of it the same way. Would an artist ever make a new work if they didn't think they could make something better than their previous work? So there will always be truth about the deficiencies in a work. But can the reviewer understand the good parts? Sometimes I get great pleasure in pieces of code that I wrote that I think nobody else will appreciate. It's kind of like an inside joke. If someone can't see it, it's not really unexpected -- perhaps more surprising if someone does see it. I try to enjoy the fact that someone read my code. The hate mail is just the proof :-D