Oh, I'm quite sure that he was serious at the time, and not just taking the piss. He had several non-superhero titles coming out or in the pipeline at the time (MEK, Red, Global Frequency, etc.) and was already losing interest in Planetary. It wasn't just the post about how We Can't Have Nice Things In Comics because of the Transformers and Thundercats fans (which I unfortunately can't link to because Delphi won't let you search their archives past three months unless you give them money); it was a lot of general dickery, with long-time commenters being banned for no good reason (which led some people to request bannination in solidarity) and other petty crap. It was a bit of a shock to people who had previously looked up to Ellis for creating a superior forum for all sorts of things that had nothing to do with comics. (I don't still carry a grudge, though; to use a quote that I never, ever get tired of, I used to be disgusted, but now I'm just amused.)