@Krumple,
Heretics are often dealt with more harshly by True Believers than their ideological enemies, and for the Clintonistas in this forum any refusal by the Berners to bury the hatchet and pull for Clinton was considered heresy.
Add to this the fact that some of them never, in the first place, bought Lash's conversion to the progressive school of thought and you have the makings for the sort of nasty animosity you observed.
Any criticism of Clinton has been seen as extreme by this group, and Lash is not the only one to have met their wrath. Edgar and Chicago Joe were two who took a lot of incoming and likely are being blamed for Clinton's loss.
Most but not all of them have taken a hiatus from the forum but that's understandable.
First of all they probably feel miserable about the result and are trying not to think about it. If they've avoided A2K, they are probably avoiding watching the news, or even social media like Facebook.
Secondly they really don't want to be exposed to gloating by Trump supporters, however, for the most part, it seems to me that there hasn't been much of it, and less than there was when Obama beat Romney. This is understandable too. No one likes a sore loser, but everyone hates an obnoxious winner.
Finally, some of them must be embarrassed by their bold predictions of a Clinton landslide and a Trump humiliation. Such statements may feel good at the time, but they can bite you in the ass if the world doesn't back you up.
Most will be back though. I suspect a number of them have been looking in since the election, even though they are not ready to reveal their presence.
With a couple of exceptions, I hope they come back. I've little hope that they will in anyway be humbled by the result of this election and most will dedicate themselves to vigorously criticizing, but the place won't be the same without them.
I myself was on a hiatus from the site until the election was decided, and if Clinton had won, I almost certainly would not have returned, but she didn't and I just couldn't resist coming back to see what the reactions were like. Not sure if I will be staying for long, but it's more interesting now than it had been in a long time.
Foolishly I didn't at all anticipate the demonstrations, but if I had I would have anticipated that they would lead to violence and they have which is pretty sickening, but maybe our absent members aren't avoiding this place, but are marching in the streets of their cities with
"He's not my president!" written in Magic Marker on their foreheads.
