<p>I would like to second what others have said here, which is that Macro and you behaved with admirable maturity in the face of this situation.  </p>

<p>I do think it's perfectly acceptable to close or delete a question [answer, comment] if someone's behavior is obnoxious.  I think this may be sufficient sometimes to chastise someone and get them to follow simple courtesy.  (I actually loosely remember an example in which I flagged someone's comment, it was deleted, and the poster was more appropriate thereafter, but I wouldn't be able to find the thread again now.)  However, that won't always work.  The individual in question seems dedicated to behaving this way (you can check his other question, and his website).  Should these posts have been closed, I suspect more nastiness, possibly via alternate accounts registered under pseudonyms would follow.  Unfortunately, the nature of the internet is such that this is destined to occur occasionally, and there's no ultimate solution besides walking away and ignoring it.  Thus, I think @MattParker is right that the system worked basically as well as can be hoped.  </p>
