What brings a little hope for Mukhtar's thread is the top reply to it
Resolve conflicts, don't exacerbate them.
wesporYou know, I did this once. My friends and I cut one of our crew out because he was acting like a total asshole all the time. Turns out he was just going through a rough patch and without anyone around to support him he just committed suicide. It's been around 8 years now and I still feel guilty.
Moral of the story, talk it out first. One on one or with a group, call it an asshole intervention but don't just cut someone you once cared about out of your life without a fight.