Of course, if the patch is helpful the response should be a positive one. I'm not debating that point. I'm debating the fake politeness that is expected when a

Of course, if the patch is helpful the response should be a positive one. I'm not debating that point. I'm debating the fake politeness that is expected when a patch is in fact rubbish. It's more impolite to lie to someone and make them feel better by phrasing such as "It's good but...". It's much better to simply cut to the "but" part and tell it how it is. Fellow developers are not clients who are our responsibility to make feel good at the end of the day.