In last week’s Inner Circle email, which centered on The New Yorker’s recent stem-winder on Sotheby’s, I recalled a conversation with a guy deep in the heart of the art market who had first brought up the subject of side dealing at the auction house. I described his comment this way: “He made reference to the rampant side dealing taking place at Sotheby’s.” Not long after publication, I got a call notifying me that the specialists at Sotheby’s were pretty upset with me—not about the piece so much as the use of the word “rampant.”