>>Probably to the surprise of some here, he is entirely pleasant and amiable in person.
I'd heard that a number of times, fwiw, and believe it. I'd also heard it suggested ;-) that people who moved to NET in its first decade had their neural channels altered by the pointless complexities and a disgruntled "lashing out" group habit developed that they probably didn't even realize they were doing. Juvenile attack discourse became the norm: it never used to be.
Who can say? Perhaps there is some other explanation for the gulf between online awfulness and courtesy in real life.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
