People other people have demanded that I shun include Neil Gaiman, Gail Simone, Amanda Palmer, Frank Miller, John Cassaday, Mark Waid, George Perez, Joan Hilty, Bob Layton, my agent since 1989, and a host of others too long to list.
I wonder where I'd be today if I'd followed that advice. I know where it left me in the early 1990's: persona non grata almost everywhere.
To be honest, for awhile, I did distance myself from Neil, which ended in me feeling like absolute shit on realizing I'd been played.
No, I won't go into detail.
Even now, decades later, once in awhile I still burble out an incoherent apology. The last time, I burbled it out through my tears. He never brings it up, but I bring it up, and every time I do I feel like shit, because I judged someone based on a bad actor's word.
If I could go back in time I'd fix it, but there's no fix. Just my feeling stupid and judge-y and used.
No, I will not shun other people on anyone else's say-so.
The end.