Glenn Block

No flames, just as a matter of fact.  :-)

Very right indeed. This is exactly the same problem that planet earth is having: human beings are walking on it!

Human beings are always messing up my stuff; that's for sure.

It's always easier to tear something down, to be a critic, than it is to build something, to be an author. The trouble with the discourse on the Internet is that it is too full of destruction rather than creation. One of the problems most Internet communities face is that they become paralyzed because they have many people who can see the faults, but few who are willing to rise to the challenge of providing alternatives.

As a community we benefit if someone decides to create an article, open source, or commercial project to solve a problem far more than if they just whine about the issue.

If half of the energy that went into that criticism went into providing a better alternative we would be far better of. Of course the challenge is that not everyone has the resources available to create, but they are unhappy with what has been created. So we do need is to enable those people to provide constructive feedback.

I would suggest the following rule for those people: provide solutions not just problems. If you see something wrong, don't just whine that it is wrong, by itself that has the lowest form of value, but suggest an alternative. Even if you do not have the resources to provide it, someone might. Of course expect to be, in turn, judged on your alternative, but in the same context, with an alternative suggestion.

Finally once you have stated your case, if you and someone else disagree accept that. You will not win the argument just by bombarding your opponent with bytes and you should not take retreat in such circumstances as a sign of victory. They may just have lost patience in engaging with you.