Rip, He brought it all on himself. When someone is that much of a pariah on a community, then the community had to do something. I have yet to meet anyone who isn't happy with how the whole thing turned out.
Rip, he called Firefox a "hairlip", then invited himself to the NW breakfast that Firefox organized. Even Bobn's friends had to to tell him that was out of bounds.
Gang-Bang? I just don't see that as a description that fits. We acted as a community, to keep our community a welcome place. Some mud got slung, but with the anonimity of the net, thats expected. I would hope that AH nevers have to go through what we did, but I also bet you guys would stand up for your community the way we did.