As software developers, we need to put much more emphasis on positive interactions with our peers. Engineering requires critical thinking. Looking for cases where something (code!) will break. Criticizing what we do, on the hope of doing it better, is a key and necessary aspect of our profession. However, even when done properly (already a hard enough job!) this practice emphasizes negative interactions. In a normal job, what would you say is the ratio of times you hear "this might be better if .." vs "I really liked X"?
Saying "this was good" is hard. More often than not, it's hard to even notice good code (and I'd go as far as saying that noticing good things is hard in general!). Unlike criticism, positive interactions don't lead to direct improvements. No code will be enhanced by saying "I liked this solution", though people may be more inclined to considering criticism if the positive aspect is also noted.
In the end, maybe someone just had a slightly better day because you said something nice. That's already a small victory.
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