You're making very good observations as usual. I thought I'd add one of my own. Clouds can look unnatural when you sharpen them, but on the other hand sometimes our photos make things look unnaturally soft. If we look at the world through eyes that are half decent we'll see the world fairly sharply (the bits we concentrate our attention on). If we want any kind of realism in our photos (which is not always the case) then those photos would have to have a level of sharpness that matches what we see with our own eyes.

Softness where we expect to see sharpness isn't a good look, and one of the reasons for that is that the softness isn't representing the reality of what we're used to seeing. Sharpness junkies can justify their obsession by telling themselves that sharpness gets us closer to reality than softness does. I'm not a sharpness junkie but generally speaking I do prefer sharpness to softness because it's a more realistic (i.e. less flawed) portrayal of reality. (And that's before we even start considering things like loss of fine detail).

You've made some very good observations about good critics. But the fact remains that criticism given when it was not asked for or expected is a recipe for negative reactions. My suggestion is that Admin should rewrite the descriptions of the sections that are experiencing problems, such as the Gallery and the Photo Analysis sections.

In the case of the Gallery, emphasis should be given to the fact that criticisms shouldn't be given unless clearly asked for. In the case of the Photo Analysis section it should be made clearer that it's main purpose is to provide a place where people can seek help with photos that have specific issues. It is not a place where critique should be sought.

~ So, today someone posted a flower image (one of many - every day, and I'm also guilty). The Poster was VERY proud of their image and said so in the Title and Body of the text in their post. I personally was not enamored with how the image was processed, so I refrained from posting my thoughts on said image.
...However, one poster actually did post, that while it was a very nice image, in his/her opinion was a bit over-saturated (even stating it was still a nice image)! Oh, My!! What a Faux Pas that was!! The original poster tore that person up in no uncertain terms! How DARE that someone have an opinion of his/her work other than Praises from On High!!
~ So, I'm just curious. Why is the Photo Gallery Off Sides to Any critical review? I DO understand that there is a critique section on UHH. So, then, do we always have to Ooooo and Aaahh at images in the Photo Gallery? We must all support images good or bad and save all our Heart Emojis and Thumbs - Up's for images that are borderline if not outright poorly done? I know for a fact that my own images need a lot of work, so I'm def not the Golden Boy/Girl here!

Anybody?

As a photographer, I am always open to an alternative approach or technique that might lead to some improvement in what I am doing or which might remove some limitation in my process. But I am smart enough and experienced enough to know that my photographs are reasonably good right now. I'm not interested in anyone picking them apart. (I do have a couple of trusted folks who do have discussions like that with me, but they are probably kinder than most of you.)

You see, I'd go nuts if I tried to do what everybody said. So I go with who I trust for the big things.