I agree with this one. I have a buddy that lost a minty WMS IJ in that debacle ...

You know, I was a active poster on RGP during that period. And my thoughts are that Gary was more of a lesson to be learned than a scandal. Someone can only upset you if you let them, a lesson that I learned by growing up with an older brother (where I had to learn how to take it), and with a younger sister (where I like to think I got pretty skilled in giving it out). The guy would post an opinion pretty strongly, and folks that didn't agree with him were almost always the ones that escalated things into nastiness. Once that pattern was established it was self-fulfilling from that point on. Certainly Gary went out of his way to keep it going, and I won't defend any of his very personal attacks on folks, but I honestly never felt like it was all him.

This same problem can be seen today on Pinside. Post something potentially negative in one of the fanboy threads and you will be treated to at least 12 angry posts, and 3 unrelated gifs. And when the potentially negative thing comes true 6 months later do any of those guys apologize for how they treated anyone? No way, when in fact folks should be able to post any opinions they want without personal attacks and backlash, this is a forum and it should be all about opinions.

Very true Lloyd. And for the record I was no fan of Gary or his personal attacks on you for sure. But early in the drama years with him it was obvious he was there for the attention, and there were a LOT of folks on RGP that persisted in lavishing him with the attention he sought.