i would agree with levy03 that the general trend towards angry/rude/nasty discourse is widespread, not just in the audiophile online forum world, but everywhere online and also in more traditional media like tv/cable tv where the ’echo chamber’ effect of outlets promoting themselves and grabbing viewers by making everything more intense and incendiary
couple that with many in society struggling and unhappy with their lives and living conditions, the anger is easy to express, especially in anonymous forums
then on top of that, we have societal leaders, politicians etc etc also breaking norms of decency and classy/intellectually honest discourse, taking advantage of the pent up anger and frustration of many
clear cause and effect here, and unfortunately it is all quite corrosive
couple that with many in society struggling and unhappy with their lives and living conditions, the anger is easy to express, especially in anonymous forums
then on top of that, we have societal leaders, politicians etc etc also breaking norms of decency and classy/intellectually honest discourse, taking advantage of the pent up anger and frustration of many
clear cause and effect here, and unfortunately it is all quite corrosive