I'm glad you are educating and consistent, Sharai. I have made my own personal decision about how to deal with people like this. One of them asked me to "like" their amateur writer social media the other day. And for the first time, I declined - I could have said something but just deleted her. I wish her everything she deserves. The times I've stood up to them, they crumple like pieces of burning paper. If you call them out for their continuous bulls**t and total selfishness, sometimes they'll get mad. But few of them are fighters. They will backstab, but that's going to happen under any/all circumstances - so this is why I've made my choice as I cannot control their behavior, only my own. I think it's a particularly serious problem in academia and certain sectors of the business world.