I think the most interesting thing to come out of this is Mike's rhetoric when it comes to bullies:
I have a real problem with bullies. I spent my childhood moving from school to school and I got made fun of everyplace I landed. I feel like Paul is a bully and maybe that’s why I have no sympathy here. Someday every bully meets and even bigger bully and maybe that’s me in this case. It’s the same thing that happened with Jack Thompson. It might not always make the most business sense and it is a policy that has caused us some legal problems, but I really don’t give a shit about that. When these assholes threaten me or Penny Arcade I just laugh. I will personally burn everything I’ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames.
As non-apologies go, there's a certain honesty to Paul's that I have to admire in some twisted sense: he straight-up SAYS he's only sorry he got caught. It's "Sorry, I didn't realize you were really the guy who draws Penny Arcade and could make my life miserable", not "Sorry I responded to a customer complaint with a torrent of adolescent insults."
Now, I've expressed my general dislike of Internet mob justice in the past. But every time I start to feel bad for the guy I find some new reason not to. He's been called on this bullshit before and hasn't stopped doing it; he's not sorry for being a prick, just for being a prick to someone who could do something about it.
If it IS disrupting his wife and baby's lives, then yeah, I feel bad for them. I am aware that absolutely any damn fool thing I say on the Internet could have repercussions for my family -- this is a subject you have to think about when somebody starts looking for your address on Google because you said Wal-Mart should maybe not let people kill each other on its doorstep.
But it's Paul's responsibility to shield his family. Unplug the land line, turn off the cell, put a sign on the door saying you didn't order any pizza, and, yes, hunker down until the Internet finds a new chew toy.
And quit being a prick.