This, a thousand times, but I believe it also requires an intention of humility behind the question. There are still plenty of ways to phrase a critique as a qu

This, a thousand times, but I believe it also requires an intention of humility behind the question. There are still plenty of ways to phrase a critique as a question and come across as a jerk. People who are intentionally jerks will find a way to do it no matter what, though. Asking a question leaves open the possibility that you, the person issuing the critique, are wrong. From my experience direct factual critiques are fine as long as they're correct. Some people might mind being told that a loop never terminates (even when that is trivially the case), but those people have their own ego issue to work on. I feel the issue comes when your critique is either flat out incorrect or when it misses the context of why seemingly incorrect behavior might actually be desirable. Asking it as a question is an implicit exercise of the 'reasonable person principle'. That tiny shift in voice turns an accusation into a conversation that effectively starts with "My expectations have been violated by what I'm reading here. Have I missed something or was this intentional? If it's intentional, can you help me understand why this is desirable behavior?"