This writer calls himself "aging", but he must not be that old because, while the Web didn't exist in 1987, when that Stereo Review blind amp test came out showing inexpensive amps couldn't be picked from expensive amps, you'd have thought the world had been set on fire. The magazines' Letters to the Editor and BBS were howling.
This isn't something new, and it certainly isn't about audio. You should have seen the golf forums back in the 90's arguing about swing methodology and equipment. Back then I competed in long drive a few times with a competition best of 372 yards with carries up to 330, and I was repeatedly told by people on forums, who I could outdrive with a 3-iron, that my thoughts on swing methodology were all wrong. You've just got to have the attitude of, "Yeah, OK, whatever."
This is just simple psychology. It's always been going on and it always will because people are people. And many people are irrational, unintelligent or have psychological axes to grind. Either you accept it, or you let it control you, because while it's something that might possibly be suppressed and censored, it's not something you can change. And none of these subjects are that important.