So there.

These days it seems that as the rudes have gotten ruder — abetted by BlackBerries, cellphones and MP3 players — the scolds have gotten scoldier. True, many people have grown complacent about having to endure others’ musical tastes or conversations — or more accurately, half of their conversations. But among the disapprovers, withering glances and artfully worded comments have given way to pranks and other creative kinds of revenge.

On Broadway, the actors Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman took turns breaking out of character during a September performance of their show, “A Steady Rain,” to admonish an audience member who refused to silence his cellphone. Patti LuPone, too, has recently garnered some of the most enthusiastic ovations of her career for stopping shows to publicly berate people for similar offenses.

Celebrities have also been on the receiving end.

Last month, the Argentine opera singer Gabriela Pochinki was arrested at a French bistro on the Upper West Side when she allegedly scuffled with the restaurant’s manager after several customers had complained about her loud cellphone chat.

Bravo, say people like Vinnie Bartilucci, a computer programmer from Lehigh Valley, Pa. Among his methods for countering loud cellphone talkers is to place a small recording device he carries for work on the table next to the offender.

Image IT'S POLITE TO PROWLShannon Stamey of Washington refers to herself as the “etiquette vigilante.” Credit... Andrew Councill for The New York Times

Mr. Bartilucci did just that last summer at a McDonald’s in lower Manhattan, soliciting the logical question: What are you doing? (Which was punctuated by an expletive.)