By now, many others have weighed in on a very recent online spat, so I won’t go into particulars.

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Person A, who is very well known, made a comment that devoid of context came across as arrogant. He didn’t mean it that way.

Person B, who is very well-respected (and less well-known,) wrote about how such interactions and communications can indeed breed incivility online, without naming names.

Person A wrote a scathing open letter to Person B.

Both Person A and Person B are friends of mine. Real friends, not just “online friendz,” with whom I have shared multiple meals and drinks apiece. So this isn’t about them.

This is about the lapdogs who try to curry favor with the Internet Famous. [Read more...]