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I work myself, so don't actually have much experience with this rule. But people need negative feedback which often creates big motivation for them and enforces learning. Giving only positive examples does not help to become better person/programmer/whatever...

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There's a difference between constructive negative feedback and trying to subtly belittle someone.

Not knowing about something is not really a negative feedback point

To be fair, the author does not successfully make their case that "feigned" surprise (how does one know enough about the mental state of another person to make that assumption anyways?) is always negative or always bad.

Funny, in that an article about not making assumptions is packed with them, not the least of which is the assumption that someone who is visibly surprised when you don't know something is expressing some kind of superiority or belittling.

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