Exactly right. This is the "New Referees" section, specifically designed to help new referees who have gone out of their way to try and get advice. That shows a degree of self reflection and honesty that's vital for any referee who wants to succeed. Every top referee in the world has spent time thinking "what could I do better?" And as almost a page of posts show, it's very possible to give useful advice to someone who asks this kind of question.I just think the reason it doesn’t sit well is because the comment didn’t really give any help. It was a blunt statement which didn’t offer the advice the OP was looking for. Personally, I think being harsh and tough does have its place and I know it has helped me before, but in this case, it wasn’t helpful
Someone referenced an ex-member of this forum, and it's absolutely fair to say that the biggest falling out I had with him was for doing exactly this. And honestly, I'll happily do it again and again. I think telling someone to give up after just two matches is a really horrible thing to do - not "honest", not "truthful", just something only an awful person would even consider doing.
I'll happily accept whatever brand of "honesty" people want to throw at me elsewhere on here - but in this section, telling a brand new referee who only wants to improve to give up is just wrong, and needs to be resisted. And if I may say so, the reaction to me suggesting this has been fairly snowflakey....