Obasanjo suggested that TechCrunch may be filling the shoes of F'd Company during this downturn, noting "some of their opening morsels as they begin their transformation from tech bubble hypesters into its gloating eulogizers."

Arrington fired back, calling Obasanjo, the son of a former Nigerian president, "the prickly prince from Microsoft."

The Duke of Blogpreneurdom traced it back to earlier offenses and tiffs with Obasanjo, and said Microsoft needs to stop its employee from inciting people to blame TechCrunch for market conditions.

"We dared to disagree with something the Obasanjo had to say over on TechCrunchIT, which he immediately characterized as a personal attack. A few days later -- zap! -- he finds three posts that aren't all roses and butterflies and makes a subtle accusation that suggests TechCrunch may be partly to blame for the hysteria in the market right now.

"In fact, his post, which ostensibly calls for everyone to be positive no matter what, is really just a clever way of inciting the mob to blame (in this case) TechCrunch for the market problems."

If only the market situation was the fault of angry bloggers. Then we could just pull the plug on them and make it all better.