Thanks for the feedback.
We are a small team (3 embedded sw developers) and I am more or less the guy with actually production releases under my belt.
I feel my approach has been very measured and very polite to the point where I feel like i am walking on "egg shells" when doing the code reviews.
Show them you get things pointed out in your own code reviews, that it's a team game where everyone is just looking out for each other. That bad code doesn't mean they're a bad programmer, that critique of their code isn't a critique of their skill, that everyone gets blind to the problems in their own code and benefits from a second set of eyes.
within a few days we're going to be trying exactly this in hopes to show how code reviews are not about attacking and instead about helping.
It's a problem for small teams and people with little experience with code reviews. The 'walking on egg shells' thing happens ALL the time.
I've never seen this get solved overnight. Your management really needs to sit down and explain their expectations around code reviews - that fixing things based on co-worker suggestions is a positive thing, that having negative comments won't affect their performance reviews, etc.
I also find that with people like that you really do need to let more things go. If it's not a critical bug or an actual problem with the code then let it slide. Some people just cannot take criticism (even constructive) and the bad blood you'll get by persisting with it will not help you.
I also tend to find these developers are not necessarily the strongest devs and often have other personality problems. This likely indicates that your company needs to focus a lot more on the hiring and culture.
Show them you get things pointed out in your own code reviews, that it's a team game where everyone is just looking out for each other. That bad code doesn't mean they're a bad programmer, that critique of their code isn't a critique of their skill, that everyone gets blind to the problems in their own code and benefits from a second set of eyes.
within a few days we're going to be trying exactly this in hopes to show how code reviews are not about attacking and instead about helping.