I was a denizen of c.l.l deep into the Naggum era. And, yes he could be abrasive. Notably he did not suffer idiots well. But if you read many of the threads,

I was a denizen of c.l.l deep into the Naggum era. And, yes he could be abrasive. Notably he did not suffer idiots well. But if you read many of the threads, you'll notice that the provocateur upon which Erik focused his attention, the majority of the time, is talking past what Erik was saying. Most of those threads are folks yelling past each other, rather than actually addressing the points being made (and most of the folks he was directing his attention too dumped the technical side of the, uh, "discussion", almost immediately). He didn't suffer those people well either. My friends used to get into these spittle flying, lips shaking, table rattling lunch arguments at high volume. And whenever that happened, they were always talking (or, rather, shouting) past each other. And this happened face to face, 2 feet away from each other. The internet just makes that dynamic all the worse. I never had a bad interaction with Erik. He was always responsive and respectful to any communications I had. I wasn't close to him, but more than not enjoyed his commentary and his typically well thought out point of view (even if I didn't agree with it). He certainly doesn't need someone like me to defend him, but I do miss him. I consider his loss a blow. I had another friend, a closer friend, also an Erik. He had a caustic side to him as well, and we lost him just as the pandemic was starting. I miss him dearly as well. Maybe it's the name.