There’s nothing wrong with wanting readers. But wanting eyeballs and needing eyeballs for validation are two different things.

“If you were here strictly for the craft, you wouldn’t care what other writers were up to.”

Not if you want to share ideas about literature and craft with other writers, especially if you don’t know any. That’s how you learn.

There definitely can be bitterness and envy. That sucks. But sometimes maybe you interpret statements as tearing someone down, when really they are meant to empower and inspire someone to focus on substance?