The reason people don't give much constructive criticism any more is, in my opinion, largely down to a set of pervasive, poisonous attitudes which affect the te

The reason people don't give much constructive criticism any more is, in my opinion, largely down to a set of pervasive, poisonous attitudes which affect the tech industry: 1: 'Ship early, ship often' is better than 'take your time and get it right'. People need to release what they've got because GASP, somebody else might get there first! People falsely believe that the market decides based on speed to delivery, rather than overall quality. Investors might, but customers do not. There are a lot of sucky projects out there, regardless of the specific reasons WHY they suck. People don't have the time or inclination to actually provide useful criticisms, but they do feel the need to voice their disdain. 2: Everyone's a rock-star. If everyone's a rock-star, nobody's a rock-star. The blogosphere is full of high profile developers and tech evangelists telling everyone how great we all are and how those stuffy 'management' types don't know what they're talking about. The developer is the guru, the shaman, the expert. Well, that's just wishful thinking. If you think you're a genius, you're probably not a genius. You don't have the credentials, the experience or expertise to effectively critique somebody else's project, so you dismiss it as 'it sucks' because you don't know how to articulate the issues you have with it. 3: Everyone's opinion is valid. This is basically a reiteration of point 2, but I think this is an issue with Western civilisation as a whole. The ease with which people can now publicise their opinions means that people WILL publicise their opinions. There is too much noise, because people think that their opinions are valid and useful. Hell, I'm doing it right now!