My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
Condescending feedback says more about the speaker than the listener.  It is almost invariably about their own insecurity.  This is true is almost all fields of endeavor, not just programming.<p>Just a few examples of my own:<p>Insecure bridge player: The queen of spades was a stupid play.  What's wrong with you?<p>Excellent bridge player: The queen of spades would have been a great play against a 4/2 split.  But since you had a 3/3 split, what do you think would have happened if you had played the ace instead?<p>Insecure public speaker:  You look like an idiot playing with your hands like that.<p>Excellent public speaker:  You talked about a lot of cool things.  I bet I would have been even more interested if I wasn't distracted so much by your hand gestures.<p>Insecure parent: If you can't keep that baby quiet, you should just stay at home!<p>Excellent parent: Here's something that has really worked well for me when my kids cried in public...<p>Insecure programmer:  How lame.  I can't believe you <insert almost anything you could have done>.<p>Excellent programmer:  I see that works.  I have found a few ways to make it work even better.  Let me know what you think.