Big Dog and Me-too
3
I dont suggest that such a partnership of flame warriors exists on RIA, in fact I rather suspect it does not, but let me present a hypothetical case for discussion purposes only.
Let us assume that there are two imaginary reviewers, both of them obsessive Boston Red Sox fans. This obsession consumes them, and dominates most of their waking life. One reviewer is smarter, more articulate and far more cunning than the other, who is heavily influenced by the dominant member of the pair.
For the sake of convenience let us name them, in the case of the more dominant reviewer, "El Moron Man" and let us name the other "DinosaurBrain." Our fictional team attempts to dominate all discussion of the Boston Red Sox, and state that only they have the true understanding of the subject. They castigate all fans of other teams, denigrate all non-baseball fans, and even go so far as to belittle Red Sox fans who do not walk in lock-step with their opinions.
In this activity, they have separate roles, but roles so closely interlocked with each other that they are effectively symbiotic. "El Moron Man" dresses his commentary with a patina of reason, but quickly devolves into attack mode if challenged, mocked or disagreed with. His articulate abilities and the apparent sincerity of his belief fools more than one genuine Boston Red Sox fan into temporary support, although many quickly find that they are cast aside at the merest hint of disagreement, or worse of moderation.
"DinosaurBrain," on the other hand, functions as a rabid attack dog on a broken leash, savaging all dissenters with semi-coherant rants and sub-literate insults. Together, our imaginary pair can be quite formidable, but as in most such cases, their personal and unwelcoming agenda alienates many of their possible allies among Red Sox fandom.