Was the ass-terisk a mistake?

In the process of discussing changing award rules recently over at File 770, Mike Glyer himself seems to opine it was wrong:

"That wooden asterisk was a self-inflicted wound that will never heal."

At which point somebody called Cheryl S. says:

"@Mike Glyer, that wooden asterisk was unfortunate, but it wasn’t meant to wound. If it nicked the very thin skinned, that’s the kind of thing that thicker skin would prevent. Since the wounded were the sort of people who say “snowflake” and “safe spaces” with scorn, I feel only a little badly and mostly just raise an eyebrow at their lack of appreciation for irony."

She added later in the same post:

"Did I cheer for all those No Awards from Spokane? Yeah, I did, watching/reading the live feed at a Michael Franti concert, because it meant that Worldcon’s organizational strength translated to public support when needed."

I mean, where do these people some from?