Disingenuous means "not of noble character", and more generally means things along the lines of "deliberately dishonest". "Disingenuous" does not mean "misleading, maybe by accident". It's an attack on someone's character.
So, if you wanted to say "misleading, maybe accidentally", you used the wrong word.
Maybe over time, people are evolving toward using the four-syllable word as a one-to-one replacement for the three-syllable word, as a way of disingenuously suggesting they're better educated than they are? If so, eventually, that'll be the most common usage, and thus what the word "means". I don't think we're there yet.
I came for the pedantry, but I'll stay for an opinion: For myself, I agree with the wording you used in the first comment, that calling that list "everything you need to know about web development" is such a high degree of bullshit that no one of noble character would do that. I believe it to be deliberately deceptive self-promotion.
Back on the pedantry, I find it hard to believe that you actually meant "foster" where you wrote that. I mean, who cares how many people foster the opinion that "critique" has a strictly negative connotation... isn't the real issue how many people hold that opinion?
I actually agree with you that it was deliberate to some extent which is why I used the wording "too strong a negative connotation". I think anytime you are accusing someone of being less than entirely honest, which is the definition of disingenuous[1], that it's going to carry at least a semblance of negativity. This is also why I added the caveat "too critically" to my original comment because although I felt the poster was aware of his word choice he was just writing what he thought was catchy marketing copy.
And no, I actually meant to use the word foster. While you're probably right that the larger issue is how many people hold the opinion, for me personally its about how many people vocally defend the opinion (i.e. promote). For instance, if you and Shawn didn't feel the need to defend your position on disingenuous it would be a non-issue because people would at worst understand what I meant by context. This method of understanding by context is the exact mechanism by which our wonderful language evolves over time so while those who hold an opinion of a definition will eventually go away those that foster an opinion on a definition can have a long lasting impact on our language.
So, if you wanted to say "misleading, maybe accidentally", you used the wrong word.
Maybe over time, people are evolving toward using the four-syllable word as a one-to-one replacement for the three-syllable word, as a way of disingenuously suggesting they're better educated than they are? If so, eventually, that'll be the most common usage, and thus what the word "means". I don't think we're there yet.
I came for the pedantry, but I'll stay for an opinion: For myself, I agree with the wording you used in the first comment, that calling that list "everything you need to know about web development" is such a high degree of bullshit that no one of noble character would do that. I believe it to be deliberately deceptive self-promotion.
Back on the pedantry, I find it hard to believe that you actually meant "foster" where you wrote that. I mean, who cares how many people foster the opinion that "critique" has a strictly negative connotation... isn't the real issue how many people hold that opinion?