There are times when you see a thread bumped and you know exactly why and this is one of them. I too saw that thread Sam posted and it was disappointing, but not surprising.
Fandom can be such a double edged sword. Almost all of them are great and truly treat the objects with fandom with respect and adoration. But, those that don't....
The toxicity that exists in some circles as always been there. I can remember Kirsten Bourne talking about how she used to get crap from fans for breaking up Joey and Caitlin like she had even a little bit to do with that. Social media as made it easier, though to reach our favorite stars, and with that as made it easier for the crap that Sam is talking about to happen.
And to your point, as an always older fan of this show and others like it, I've always tried to avoid going down that road, and I think I've done a pretty good job with that. But, I also know that I'm guilty of going down that road at some point as well. We probably all are, but that doesn't make it any better.