Nah, except at the very beginning it's always been this way, it just goes through cycles. I'd say that a period several years ago was far worse than anything today. It got so bad, several long time veterans left, though a few have returned since. There was another "crisis" point three years ago IIRC that was short but intense, during which other people left and I got so pissed off that I stopped visiting for several months and almost pulled my articles. (Ironically, the backlash caused one of the self-proclaimed guardians to leave for a while. That person occasionally lurks, but isn't mean and plain antagonistic as they were before. There were a few other casualties of that skirmish, but I won't list them.) More recently, there was a major blowup in the Soapbox, which was then shut down and later reincarnated in a different form (I think--I don't go there; it just isn't worth the aggravation.) But yes, if you hang around here, you will discover a weird hierarchy and cliques, just like any other social group eventually develops. Of course, also like any other social group, there are misfits who seem intent on disrupting the order of what's going on and whose snark is really mean and continually excessive. Then there is Michael Martin, a force all his own.
