Phrases to forever expunge from your critiques

[Quixilated]

to tell you the truth i think vapid compliments don't always ruin the poets ability to write or go to their head, i tend to find all non-descriptive praise to be satisfying yet not very inspiring. "I liked it" is basically like saying "your writing is very good", i personally am fine with all such vague comments as long as they include more than that. My favorite is when someone compliments and insults "my" poetry in the same critique, because they just gave me free advice, not always easy to find.

I do really hate it when on social media just "likes" my post without saying anything...i'm pretty much just sitting there silently for a moment thinking "*COUGH*...WELL?!"

No one is saying that the author of a poem isn't pleased when someone likes their poetry. The reason why a simple "I like it" is unacceptable on this site is because this is not social media, it is a workshop.  The purpose of this site is not to showcase poetry but to workshop it so that it can be showcased elsewhere.  People are not posting finished poetry here hoping to receive praise, they are posting works-in-progress hoping to receive feedback about the poem so that they can polish it and make it even better.  They want to know what to keep and what to cut, what works and what doesn't.  "I like it" says nothing about the poem.  Critique doesn't have to be negative.  You're allowed to like a poem, but if you like a poem then simply go deeper. Tell the author why you liked it, what parts in particular spoke to you.  Point out a specific word or phrase that spoke to you.  "I like it" is empty praise, and doesn't help the poet workshop the poem in any way.