Having people criticize my code on comp.lang.perl.misc in 1999 improved my programming skill (and, even more so, my Perl skill) very rapidly. However, they were saying things much more detailed than "eyes bleeding".
Criticism is great and necessary, but piggybacking on someone's code with your friends without resolve is no different than picking on someone in grade school. Rather, this is more akin to talking crap about someone behind their back to the whole school because she had no idea it was even happening until a colleague brought it forth.
If the original comments about replace were motivated by "Diagnosis and error correction" or "Improvement", I don't see it.