I was looking for this and finally found it in the comments.

Derek Smart [1] is the indie developer behind the ambitious (and buggy) space sim Battlecruiser 3000AD [2]. He is known for his legendary Usenet presence in the 90s, and engaged in massive, aggressive flamewars with anyone who criticized his game or physics engine. He adopted the "combative game dev" archetype long before social media existed.

Now that he has been mentioned, there's a small chance he will drop by.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Smart

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlecruiser_3000AD