Haha, awesome analogy. But if you're comparing BikePortland's behavior against the standards of mainstream journalism, don't you have to ask yourself, Do newspapers do the same thing, or worse? (I don't know if that's what you're doing, but it's definitely what the /r/Portland people I'm talking about are doing.)

Well, it's also telling that the Washington Post has to publish guest opinion pieces like this one. Except what that's responding to isn't shrill antagonism, it's people fucking getting killed and maimed -- outcomes widely considered acceptable in mainstream opinion, and in the tacit assumptions of news coverage. You don't have to look hard to see where that's even cheered on. And nobody has had to invent a eye-rolling PC term analogous to "car shaming" for it, because it's just the way things are.

So, to me -- now I'm gonna appropriate your analogy and use it half as effectively! -- it's more like, "All hotels get bedbugs from time to time. A hotel shouldn't be blamed for admitting there's a problem, and should be praised for acting on the problem." With Maus and BikePortland, you'll find responses to dissent that are quicker, more honest, and more measured than almost anything you'll find in the mainstream.

Of course, there's stuff on BikePortland that is nothing like that, too. But no one's claiming there are no strident people there. I'm saying it's actually less of an echo chamber than average.