>It's easy to criticise a minor detail of a friend's work, but harder to say "you don't have the talent for this, give up."
I would question whether most people honestly have the expertise to make a judgement like 'you don't have the talent for this, give up'. I think people routinely overestimate their own abilities and discernment. Taking a hasty/faulty analysis and then telling someone to 'give up' seems like a terrible idea.
