It leaves open the possibility that you as the reviewer are actually mistaken, and they possibly have a good reason for doing it that way.
I may be the senior reviewing the junior’s code, but they probably spent longer looking at the problem than me and there is a chance that I’m missing something. By suggesting “have you considered this, it may be able to handle x situation better”, you respect their work more.
It depends on context though, if somebody clearly just didn’t understand something obvious, then I’ll just tell them directly.
Either way, probably a difference in our opinions of feedback, you might prefer more directness than me
In this context, is it weird to ask if you've "thought about X"? Is it disingenuine or condescending to you? Servant leadership is about supporting the team that I'm responsible for, to block and shield them from the wrath of VPs who want blood because their napkin-idea-over-cocktails wasn't selected for funding.
I'm trying to prepare you, the presenter of the solution, for the onslaught of questions that will come your way. If you feel these kinds of questions are a praise sandwich, I'm more than happy to present your solution for you.
> It leaves open the possibility that you as the reviewer are actually mistaken, and they possibly have a good reason for doing it that way.
That's a great point. There must be room in this to cover that the person actually had good reasons that the asker doesn't know about. It's a hard needle to thread.