While part of me agrees with you, it's actually quite a bit more public than most things thrown about in e-peen swinging matches. It IS, after all, officially public record. Whereas if Eli had simply asserted that Rick likes to fuck donkeys, no one has any proof that he does (just allegations). I think that the real dig here is that, hey guess what, it's all true. And the truth, as we are learning, there is no defense for.
If I may bring up an anecdote, but a relevant one, there used to be a fellow on this forum named Jack. He was actually quite well received initially, and even had a few members commenting on him being one of the coolest new guys ever. For whatever reason (probably because he was made to feel inferior to Jack in pretty much all ways, and justifiably so) Chris Green did not like our man Jack. In fact, he had such a hard-on for Jack getting served that he also did some digging, and what did he find? Well, turns out our cool new guy Jack did time for busting a cap in some schmucks ass. I can not adequeatly describe how quickly the shark tank that is cr ate that dude alive, and within a week he was a distant memory. I still associate with Jack, and dude has his side of the story as well, but it doesn't matter. In the court of public opinion, as well as actual court, dude was found guilty of douchebaggery, and the only penalty levied is forum death. Much like Rick here.