I'm not looking for escalation here, indeed the opposite. But honestly, this is what 2020's reaction to all this reminds me of:

- leeloo shock 1.gif (416.51 KiB) Viewed 3129 times
Only, the difference, of course, is that the completely naive character there was witnessing some truly horrible, devastating tragedies for the first time. On the other hand, you have seriously overreacted and blown all this way
way way out of proportion. Thin-skinned doesn't even begin to describe it. Under what conditions were you raised? You seem to want everyone to lie to you, coddle you, protect you from the real world. Learn to take criticism, for you seem to lack that capacity (despite your protests of standing up and "holding the line"). Previously, you've mostly just dismissed any
legitimate criticism out of hand with flippancy and, again, your thinly-veiled, passive-aggressive insults. "You're unenlightened, you have problems, I'm wonderful." And, not incidentally, you have always completely ignored when other people in this "community" or on this forum are behaving poorly or are being mistreated. But now, with a
legitimate criticism (whatever its form or tone)—as opposed to baseless antagonism—directed at
you, you act like your world has been destroyed. You have "suffered badly?" Come on. Get a grip. You have not been bullied, and there's barely anything that could qualify as aggress[ion/ive].
And all this stuff about how the so-called "community" and forum have gotten "toxic" and whatever, and implying it's all my fault? Guy, where
have you been? It's been as bad or worse for years. Contrary to your assertion, I have not "been a consistent part of this community over the years." I dropped out from both the forum and playing the game from 2006 through the end of 2009. And half the reason I dropped out was because the character of the "community" was going into the gutter. And in my estimation this forum only got worse in my absence (see the old ID threads for examples). In fact, I've tended toward laying partial blame for the deterioration of the larger "community" on the introduction of "special game modes" like Fortress, et al; and definitely that of this forum in particular on its becoming the central hub for organizing competitions like the Ladle. So put that in your pipe.
Now, this kind of stuff, citing as an example:
I am a team player. Anyone I have ever played with should testify to that. I have taken plenty for the team, in terms of sitting out, holing, and doing my best.
You remind me of these obsessed fans who have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy, believing the character in the TV show or movie is the real person, etc. And that has always been one of my criticisms against you and your "tronic progression": its detachment from reality and trivialisation of really serious, horrible problems in the world.
extending the same invitation to him to meet visually and verbally on eg G+, or skype
This was never going to happen. I don't do any of those things, even instant messaging; I don't even know what G+ is. And I don't know why you need that sort of visual and verbal interaction here. That's why I sent you a PM. And as Z-Man noted, that's a medium where one can be more thoughtful and consider what they say. But, you blew that.