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You know how you're feeling right now? A bit wounded, because somebody was (perhaps) a bit harsher in their reply then they needed to be, even though they were absolutely correct?

That's how others (may) experience it when you're "a little rude".

Remember this feeling.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that this response might suggest that you need to work on getting inside the mind of the person you are interacting with.

I don't know how to teach that, other than to say really imagine as much as you can that you ARE that person, and see what their perspective is like. It will soften how you talk to them and make it easier to interact constructively or at least not abrasively.

Not criticizing, just saying: 1) humble pie 2) be nice. :) It's easy, try it.

Of course you were criticising. You just said he is not smart, in a harsh tone, and maybe even imply that he is stupid.

While all those things might be true, a smart person would realise early on that being nice pays off and not being nice has consequences, he seems to have realised that too, so no point picking at something which is hardly relevant to what he enquired.