No. Surely it’s an essential aspect of Crocker’s Rules that the person who gets to decide whether it’s OK for X to be rude to Y in the service of optimal communication is Y, not X. Some people may be more bothered than others by very frank criticism, and they should not be made unwelcome here.
On the other hand, I value immensely the frank criticisms of posters like thomblake and Vladimir_Nesov, both to myself and to others. I’d hate to miss out on their insights because they felt they had to restrain themselves.
No. Surely it’s an essential aspect of Crocker’s Rules that the person who gets to decide whether it’s OK for X to be rude to Y in the service of optimal communication is Y, not X. Some people may be more bothered than others by very frank criticism, and they should not be made unwelcome here.
On the other hand, I value immensely the frank criticisms of posters like thomblake and Vladimir_Nesov, both to myself and to others. I’d hate to miss out on their insights because they felt they had to restrain themselves.
I do try to phrase things in a way that does not sound insulting/rude/acidic. In the presence of Crocker’s Rules I often do not make that effort.