Peter, I am away from home so working from my phone, therefore my post might have come out more cryptic than intended...
Will try to say what I was thinking...ultimately we need to create/take photos that appeal to us as the "artists", but obviously most of us would like our images to make an impact on those viewing it, thus we do seem to want other people to like our photos. But, in the end, even if "nobody" likes a particular photo yet it still has appeal to you as the "creator" of it, then there's no reason to "bin" it. Case in point above - all points raised are valid and I find myself agreeing with some of it...yet I still like this image. Now it might be because it reminds me in some way of that morning and sitting staring at this buffalo who was in an elevated position staring me down. Maybe it's precisely because animals don't always give us the mind-blowing behaviour that will overpower any weaknesses in our technique and provide us with stunning shots, and oftentimes we need to try and portray the "buff in early morning light" just somewhat differently. If you and I had shared this sighting our shots would probably have looked vastly different, except of course for the "rule-of-thirds" perfectly proportioned shots with good head turn etc.
Maybe I'm starting to ramble. It's tricky enough to post a long post like this one on a mobile phone, let alone edit and prune it. Maybe I'm just trying to stimulate discussion on how each of us sees things in our minds before clicking the shutter...
I will add that there have been many times where honest critique of a particular shot had changed my mind about it and I "binned" it. There have also been times when it hasn't and I stuck to my guns despite few people seeming to agree with me. In the end we need to earnestly take in critique, but we also need to be able to stay true to our artistic vision if that's what led to a particular shot in the first place. How you let critique shape your views will probably end up being slightly different from artist to artist and even from photo to photo as an artist.
Making sense? If not ignore it and call me weird as per post above haha