Yeah, I can agree with "this depends on the kind of work culture etc.". Asking also seems dishonest if I'm not truly inviting a discussion. I think it's reall

Yeah, I can agree with "this depends on the kind of work culture etc.". Asking also seems dishonest if I'm not truly inviting a discussion. I think it's really worth emphasising this. Further: If the reviewee understands that feedback can be discussed, then the reviewee can discuss whether they're asked or told. If the reviewer has more authority than reviewee, then asking really ought to be asking a question. ...then everybody is stepping on egg shells. I think the intention behind rephrasing from "this is wrong" to "can it be this instead?" is to try and take the ego out of it. Except people are complicated and 'taking the ego out of it' isn't just down to a question of phrasing. The reason code reviews are done is to try to catch mistakes earlier. (Mistakes are more expensive to once more development has been done on a task). I like the term "psychological safety". It strikes me as 'unsafe' if a review comments are a matter of the reviewer's ego over the reviewee's. It should be fine to make mistakes, and to have those mistakes corrected. Because people are complicated and emotional.