I have largely been a solitary audiophile for the last fifty years. Typically good customer / friends with one or two high end audio store owners for most of the time... that is four people over forty years. That was my only contact with the outside world. I would go ten years without someone coming over to my house to hear my system. So, I may lack perspective.
I joined a long distance bicycling forum about fifteen years ago. Very helpful and civil guys... great forum... no ego, just helpful. I joined a camera forum about ten years ago... speaking of an argumentative and egotistical... worse than high end audio. I started participating in this forum about five years ago. It seems better now... a few of the argumentative posters of the past are gone. But there are a few new ones. It feels better to me than say three or four years ago. But I could be wrong... I skip over some of the hostile stuff.
Each of us helps to set the tone. If we just ignore insulting and inappropriate behavior hopefully they will go away.