This incident is only a broader symptom of social media as a tool and weapon to grandstand and signal virtue to others. As the profession of science is highly social, especially in fields of little consequence to everyday lives such as astrophysics that has little external feedback, pathologies that lead to such incidents can develop.

In the end, it's little more than a high school cafeteria, replete with mean girls.

I'm suspicious of any scientist or researcher that has a very active Twitter account. It means their priorities are not straight.