Florida
I am only an occasional contributor here, but I always read through this board when I log on to TER. Over the few years that I have been reading the Florida board and other regional boards, I have noticed that the general tenor of communication here is better than most anywhere else. Much of that can be laid at the feet of Sly, but most of it reflects directly on the attitudes of the hobbyists and providers that post.
The 'Days of the week posts', the humor, the 'shout-outs' and the 'heads up' posts, informational posts, and 'welcome newbie' posts all create a lively atmosphere with a generally congenial undertone.
The post that the OP was alluding to was an eye-opener for me. I am certainly not an insider here. But I have formed impressions of many hobbyists and providers by their posts - and their pictures of course 
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While the now infamous thread was a bit of train wreck ugly, it did illuminate certain aspects of personalities that I might never otherwise have known. I have always believed that adversity reveals character far more than prosperity does. I think this was a prime example.
The follow-up post by upncummin52 seems to indicate that there was an undercurrent of tension related to this issue that had been simmering for a while. Better to have it come out in a (relatively) harmless flame-war here than to have it build up to something real-world nasty. Kind of like having a few periodic market corrections rather than a long, uninterrupted period of false optimism resulting in a catastrophic landslide. Stop me if you've heard something like this before.
Either way, it is inevitable that, within a large group of people, there will always be personalities that clash. It is how we deal with those conflicts that determines how well the group, as a whole, will fare now and in the future.
{end of spewing soap-box drivel}
I need to get laid! And soon, obviously