Ahoy, Captain,
It is true, there has been a decline in civility here, & in the GT forum that's saying a lot. I suspect one of the contributing factors is that we're not playing our subsims as much as we used to. For ex., the Silent Hunter forums were once beehives of activity. Alas, that golden age is behind us, and instead of sinking ships and feeling the camaraderie, some of us take our pent-up aggression to the GT forum.
Some of us just need to get laid more often.