Stack Overflow suffers just as much from insults, rudeness and sarcasm as the rest of the internet. Anywhere in real life too. You'll always get people on ego trips or too suborn to hear out anyone else's ideas. It's our nature to be more bold when sitting behind the protection of our computer monitors and keyboards. If this is the problem you are talking about then I'm afraid IMO you'll get the same feeling anywhere you go at some stage. What to do when you come across a comment/post that you feel is insulting? - **Flag it!** <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/JJDt6.png" width="250"> <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/HFzkX.png" width="400"> We don't want that kind of offensive content on the site. I don't think any one *wants* it. That said you have to realize that no matter who you are or how much reputation you have on Stack Overflow, sometimes you get frustrated and say things you might not have said waking up late Saturday morning with breakfast in bed... on your birthday... <sub>(when you are in a good mood if anyone missed that :)</sub> Some one will come along and if it offends them it will get flagged and *possibly* removed. --- Regarding the specific example you gave. I really think that you over analyzed it. Here is a 10K+ user making a comment. He is not attacking anyone he is not calling anybody out for an argument... He is simply giving his advice; Highlighting a certain aspect of C++ (of which I have zero knowledge) that he feels is crucial for someone who is serious about programming. If these are the comments that disturb you then you haven't seen the worst...