[Cathus]

it's always easier to be critical about the work of someone you don't know, we don't like offending friends or people we know, we also don't like going against the crowd, so if the consensus of opinion is that Fred Bloggs is a great photographer, we feel better about agreeing because it makes us feel part of that group.

It's why forums get so tetchy sometimes because people don't know their verbal opponents.

Once you get in with a group of people it can be hard to be critical about them because they are part of your group.

So yes, anonymous critique would probably be more honest.