It depends on the nature of the “complaining”, I would say. As I suggested above, there’s a difference between constructive criticism and ranting. A wise developer listens to the former and mostly ignores the latter. I say mostly, because although ranting in general is unconstructive and uninformative, it does give an idea that something is wrong, even if it doesn’t give an idea as to what exactly, or how to fix it.

So, lots of ranting sends the developer the message that they should read the constructively critical posts and give them some thought.

Of course, if the people who choose to rant instead posted constructive criticism, or just shut up if they’re unable to be constructive, it’d leave the forums cleaner, and the constructive feedback easier to find.

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