i haven't posted to address the intial theme of this thread so far, for a good reason. i really don't see that there are cliques on here. "cliques" suggest some sort of intent, a deliberate separation and active barring from a particular in-group, and that's not happening here, and never was, speaking as a purported member of The Clique, and knowing the rest of the supposed members better than i do anyone else.
i'm not suggesting that people on here haven't formed friendship groups, because of course they have, and any friendship group is going to come about because the members have more than just a few random things in common, so of course they're going to agree on a number of issues. the main thing i can see that The Clique had in common, though, was telling cal to stfu and stop going on and on about farts in colanders, and s should include most of the civilised world as we know it, with the exception of cal's own retinue.
the whole clique thing is a fabrication, a product of cal's (and others') paranoia/jealousy/destructive/whiney delusions, and i'm amazed it's become part of the "urban myth" about I2. well, maybe i'm not - it's a convenient bandwagon for people to jump on when they're dissatisfied about anything, even if it's entirely unrelated.
perhaps we should substitute the word "scapegoat" for "clique"?
/shrugs.
it's like dignifying the creationists' nonsense with an argument - they haven't got one, so why bother responding to a non-argument?