I think that's where some of the confusion comes in.

You say:

"Some people go far, far, far over the line."

So some people are assuming this is just the maintainer responding badly to people pointing out problems with his or her code, but you are saying it went far beyond that into personal attacks?

I mean this in the most respectful way possible, but have you considered your own antagonism against Reddit is not healthy for the community? Throughout the years I've seen you talk down about Reddit and the people there quite a bit. I get that they're "rougher" than the ideal Rust citizen but they're also real people and members of the community. It's probably best not to judge one of the largest sites on the internet if for no other reason than it breeds hostility.