I think we discussed this topic plenty before, but I did want to post one small follow-up based on some new info.
It appears that this drama was both touched off by and sustained with a variety of sock puppets, now banned. My thanks to Morven for nabbing no less than 19 socks from one operator. From what I can tell, there were two other people with now-banned socks involved in that as well, two claiming to be pro-BADSITES and one opposed.
It's always hard to guess the motives of people like that, but if trolling was their goal, they had a smashing success. Hopefully all involved will feel a little chastened by that. I know I do.
Not that I plan to assume good faith any less: suspicion and distrust are great raw material for trolls. But I'm definitely going to try for more WP:COOL, and more patience with people who see themselves as responding to intolerable provocation.
William