I agree. Art and criticism have always gone hand and hand, and criticism is one of the great ways to learn, so I don’t see the issue with posting examples. Without them there is not much to talk about, other than, yeah Instagram doesn’t always feature amazing work, or yeah, some pro photographers can produce mediocre results with poor post processing (which I’ve come to realise is why I initially disliked digital photography - I couldn’t find any with great processing, so I just assumed the medium sucked. Now I know what is capable with good post processing, I no longer take sides in the film v digital debate. It becomes about the skill, not the medium - and each medium has its pros and cons). If I was sitting around a table with friends we would have no issue being critical so I don’t see why a forum should be different, except that there is some chance the photographer happens upon the forum, and in the age where all participants get a ribbon, we wouldn’t want to upset anybody. But yeah, if the objective is just to find someone to take a dump on, I’m not down with that.
Without discussing specific examples, the most interesting point here to me is why so many put a lot of time and effort into the photograph, but not the processing. Are we still hungover from the film days when the lab did that for you? Are they happy with the results? Do they not understand how results could be better? Do they understand, but not have the time to learn, practice or experiment? Do they understand, but have no need, because their work already sells? Any or all of the above?