&gt; If someone lets a few rough edges on SO dissuade them from learning, they probably didn&#x27;t care for any of this to begin with.<p>Or perhaps people have different levels of emotional sensitivity (for environmental or genetic reasons).  I detest conflict and go to extremes to avoid it; thus I try to stay away from situations that entail a lot of negative interpersonal interaction.  If I was just now learning to program, an abrasive comment on SO would not turn me off to programming, but it would make me dislike certain types of people more, and in the future I would steer clear of that particular website.