okay, so name names. PI says "staff", so that means dunc, odeon and callaway, yes? could i please know the names comprising the "clique" too?
The clique is loose. Not terribly well defined. It is NOT
a formal thing. I would certainly include you in it, however,
given the ways in which you helped with certain hounding,
AND the way in which you were 'protected' from attacks.
Any others want
my opinion, they can ask directly.
I'd suspect most already have a pretty damned good clue
though. A group which NEVER seems to actually fight one
another, fawns over one another's posts, and rushes to each
others' defense, even against the weakest of us.
In addition to whatever core there is to this behavior, there is
also a ring of satellites, who are less inclined to help, but receive
such from the core.
Note, that I'm NOT saying that any of this is deliberate nor planned.
I really don't see it as any more than normal cliquish human behavior.
But, in some instances, it has caused what I see as harm to the site.
Of course, the members of the clique probably see any challenge to
their ways as causing harm too.