What's up with some of the DPreview staff's Attitude?

tex wrote:

No one was more contemptuous of his "clients/users/readers/whatever we are" than Phil Askey. No other camera site had this snarky condescension to its readers. The only current one I know of is that guy from Hong Kong who is occasionally hilarious. So I think some of the staff inherited some of this attitude from Mr. Askey.

Now, this next thing will really set some people off, but I'll say it anyway: there is a certain type of condescending, snarky rudeness that is peculiarly Brit of a certain modern type. It wasn't always this way, but it seems to have grown fiercer in the last 30 years or so, after Thatcher and associated with the rise of "cool Britannia". I'm not saying all humans can't be rude, just that there seem to me to be regional varieties---for instance a standout American one is TMI or oversharing, another one being obliviousness. But when I read some of these staff comments I almost always hear a British accent---and I know some or all of the new guys aren't Brits. But most of the newer hires are way more polite, I think, also.

But none of them could hold a candle to the late(to this site) Mr. Askey.

All that said, many of the readers here are colossally rude to the staff. But, as they say in retail, the customer is always right.

Some of that you just have to suck up. But immediately running off the rude would be a good forums moderation tactic, I believe, but it's been a veritable free for all here for so long that I'm not sure a more rigorous policy can really take hold now.

But I'm thankful for the site and the staff's work, and I put up with the quirks.