I don't think I ever got a warning that I did a bad job. I really 'am' building to the best of my ability.
I thought the cactus farm and redstone-to-obsidian converter were novel ideas, as opposed to most structures that just sit there and look pretty while not doing anything functional. And functionality came before looks because that is how it works in real architecture as well, I just never really got a chance to add the looks. Placing them smack dab in the middle of everything is a simple rookie's mistake on my part; the area was empty enough when I first envisioned the buildings. (Big herc turned out big, though.) I was even planning on rebuilding them elsewhere and destroying the old ones, but I was told I should build an arena for PvP first, which wasn't what I was interested in building at the time.
As for the free handouts, what impression am I supposed to get when I try out multiplayer for the first time and get handed a bunch of diamond tools?! Even one of those is very hard to get in singleplayer, and first impressions count for a lot. If I was given iron tools instead, I won't of had that impression.
The gold-and-iron-block road sounded like a very good idea at the time, and was definitely worth building to see how it looked. Okay, so it didn't turn out so well, and I failed at building it by not thinking I had enough room to make it go across without a skybridge of some sort. (Widening the terrain simply did not occur to me at the time). But from the experiment we got an actual road built.
For the longest period of time I thought this was a 'build only' server where you were just given all the materials you would want or need, and not have to worry about mining them. And indeed, it really was just that for me for quite a while. The multiplayer aspect of it really went a long way towards making it enjoyable (which is why I don't just go and play minecraft classic instead).
Unfortunately, It has become quite clear when I think about it that the problem lies with -me-, despite my best efforts to put together a honest attempt at helping out. I guess I just don't sync up well with other players when it comes to building, and the limitations on communications that is a part of text chat + wooden signs probably just makes it worse. These types of problems are going to just persist if I stay on the server, so therefore I think I will have to leave the server. This is not a ragequit, just a simple observation.