I'm not sure who would think they're being called out--all the examples cited were made up by me, on the fly. Anyone taking issue with straight talk about writing is going to have a very tough time in the publishing world. Maybe that's a sign that writing for a commercial audience isn't the right path for those people. And that's okay.
Whatever anarchists object to the facts I've presented here--that's fine, too. This article is targeted at writers who want to succeed in real-world publishing and use Steemit as a platform for that. A person can rail all day long against science that teaches the world is flat, but if you get in a plane and start flying west, eventually you'll end up right back where you started. The same is true for the publishing industry. People can rail against it all day long, but failure to listen to the audiences who have the money to spend on making an author successful will eventually bear out the very claims they initially tried to disprove.
Yeah, no, don't get me wrong. I think it was a fine post. A necessary one, at that. I've seen quite a few people who fall under your category of posts you would immediately stop reading, that's why I mentioned that. I do agree that being discouraged because of criticism is a sign that some people wouldn't be able to make it.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Speaking as someone who hasn't made it, I definitely appreciate the reminder to do better and improve. But, I guess I just lean more on making feel people encouraged and included. I guess that's why my work isn't as widely read :D