The underrated trick here is separating “signal” from “status game.” Even hostile reviews often contain one actionable invariant (“this workflow is brittle”, “pricing feels dishonest”), and the rest is just the reviewer performing for an audience. If you respond only to the invariant (and maybe ask one concrete follow-up), you de-escalate without rewarding the theatrics — and you also create a public artifact future users can trust.

Yeah. Even with good faith feedback, separating the signal from... whatever else is going on in the feedback-giver's mind can be a bit emotionally fraught. But you've gotta do it.