I hate to say it but some of the personalities that hang out in some of the mailing list I subscribe to seem to think that their opinion is King, and anytime anyone else has anything to say they are pounced upon. Those self proclaimed Kings build little Army’s of supporters, and they join in the fray anytime the King is attacked. Maybe years of posting on Bulletin Boards has made me weary of these individuals.
Many time these attacks continue outside these mailing list in subvert moves that the Kings expect will never surface, but many times they do and they are all agenda driven. Because as soon as one of these henchman mark you then you have to deal with them on the greater web. My wife says this behavior is what keeps many of her Japanese friends from writing weblogs as that the attacks from that community of language speakers is far from polite. This is part of a cycle I saw in the online community many years ago that continue today.
It’s one of the reasons why thousands of people subscribe to mailing list but only handfuls participate. Most do not want to be attacked by the legions that have claimed squatter rights. Mailing list are one of those double edge swords, because from time to time someone will get brave and actually post something worthwhile, and it makes reading through the rest of the garbage worthwhile.