That's a very good point. I recently realized that this bothers me too, especially in business - for example the appointment can be very polite and positive and

That's a very good point. I recently realized that this bothers me too, especially in business - for example the appointment can be very polite and positive and they then just send a brief message saying that they've chosen someone else for the project without giving any reasons. And I don't even live in an especially polite country (Czech Republic) :) But: * I don't think total honesty is always the best amount of honesty, in some situations it's better to twist the truth slightly. I see it as a tradoff between honesty and politeness. * You can be honest in many different ways. I agree that some of the comments here could be rewritten to be less depressing for the author while staying honest.