On the scale of personal attacks, that's at the bottom.
There is no clique but if you want to be one of those conspiracy theorists, go right ahead.
I saw that post. It was number 490 in response to 448.
In 448 Howlin says, "My grandmother always said that if you have to tell somebody how important you, you're probably not."
Read that carefully, does it read right to you? Is there a word missing? Could the word be "are?" I noticed that when I read the post the first time.
Now, in post 490, Mthatcher replies,
Your grandmother needs better grammar.
I took that as Mthatcher also noticed the missing word and that was her way of commenting on that.
Personally, it appears to me that both you and Howlin suffered a lack of reading comprehension at that point in time. Either that, or you and/or she were trolling for a fight.