We shouldn't discount criticism entirely, lest we give the world to the Uwe Bolls out there. Your post would have gone from being "critical" to being a critique

We shouldn't discount criticism entirely, lest we give the world to the Uwe Bolls out there. Your post would have gone from being "critical" to being a critique if you had provided both: an explanation of why it's bad, and insight into how it could be better. Consider the art crit. I've seen a full range of reaction: some students would completely qualify why they did everything, and be able to either discard useless criticism and incorporate the good; others would completely reject it: combativeness was either anger or sadness. Once, a girl cried because the professor (very politely) said that she needed to increase the contrast in her photos. The explanation, much like Knight's, was "well, I tried hard, isn't that good enough?" And the answer is no, unfortunately. You can't just hide the work in a shoebox under the bed to shield it from criticism. From what you said, though, earnestness is not opposite from politeness. It's possible to be critical without being a dick.