Further, the "Bitcointalk community" has not "set out to damage" them.
I, and I suspect many others, couldn't care less about Blocknet or Metcalf - at least before reading your post.
There has been no "catastrophe" - just questions and concerns concerning the developers, code and transparency.
What did Metcalf, Prometheus and Synechist think would happen when they decided to adopt a heavy-handed and dishonest approach to handle their investors' concerns?
Less it be forgotten, there is almost a million dollars at stake here.