The Gray Lady’s reader advocate shows the back of the hand to a NYT reporter who dissed Padma Lakshmi and Indian fashion (thanks, akhan):

“A semicelebrated hustler Ms. Lakshmi may be.” – Fashion writer Guy Trebay on Padma Lakshmi, Feb. 8.

… gratuitously nasty, and inappropriate in a newspaper that many of us look to as a guardian of civil discussion.

If gratuitous snark were banned, blogs would go begging for want of readers.