I don't think the example you link to has anything to do with character assassination. The article lists the comments in a bug entry on a bug tracker, and point

I don't think the example you link to has anything to do with character assassination. The article lists the comments in a bug entry on a bug tracker, and points out two comments that were deleted. I happen to agree with the deletions, some comments have no place in a bug tracking system that should be used to fix bugs, not argue politics and accuse other people of malicious intent. Such comments are not conducive to bug fixing, so they have no place on a bug tracker. Deleted comment 1 included "But I doubt I would waste time on coding as I’m sure you’ll just make an excuse to reject it, just as you’re making excuses instead of fixing this bug." Deleted comment 2 included snippets like "except where they deliberately break it" and "but I’m sure it’s still their agenda to make it a dependency just because they want it to be".