Interesting. I'd gotten the impression that negative comments were a form of dick-waving. I.e., if you can spot the the numerous flaws in some tool or concept then you are clearly the superior-minded hacker.
But I've never thought about it in terms of idea adoption or whether positive comments might have a lesser effect on people.
I wonder if negative comments play off people's fear of being wrong or fear of being seen on the "losing" side.
Maybe if you hear that there are good points for both Dreamweaver and [emas|vi|sublime] and it's a matter of personal preference and what works for you, then it's just some bit of data to file away. OTOH if you hear that Dreamweaver is simply evil and profoundly flawed then your adrenaline spikes; you don't want to be one of those people who use that tool.
Kind of disappointing if true.
As opposed to worrying about whether or not your decision was the right one because all of the options had really good upsides.
In reality I am trying to ensure the success of the project-- FAILURE IS THE DEFAULT OPTION.
There's definitely way too much crankiness in the software world, and I don't think it's because the people are naturally negative people. It's because we're pragmatic people and we unconsciously gravitate towards the styles of communication that get the most results.