Great post! I completely agree with this take on all the "situation".
I'll use your post, sir, if you allow me, to segway into my own opinion...
I think there are a lot of people, in the on-line communities like Steam, 7D2D, YouTube and so on... that are subconsciously channeling their own life frustrations into this or that game, this or that fight. Many times I've been called a "fanboy" or "white knight", or even a "shill" on Steam, when I opposed the point of view of people who seem to fight changes to the game that they don't agree with, with the same conviction as if they were fighting for the survival of humankind or for the right to vote in their country.
Things have really gone bonkers in my opinion, and the explanation is that there are other problems, in the (real) life of most of those people, which they can't/won't address, so they come here (or on other games' forums) to bring on their "righteous" fight in a completely irrelevant context just to compensate for that.
What most people don't understand about me, is that when I agree with the devs, or praise the game, it's simply because I've been able to play almost all Alpha versions of this game without any major issues, I had a lot of fun in each of them, and I'm also not burning myself out on the game. I enjoy(ed) the game, I almost never exprience bugs and when I'm bored with vanilla, I can play one of the great mods, also that thanks to the commitment to modding that the devs themselves always have had.
In fact, I often play other games when I have time, and even change genre! Would you believe it?
When I read people calling me a shill, TFP PR, white knight or fanboy, I just chuckle and sometimes I even feel sorry at how "mentally focused" they are to reach a point where they feel the need to hate someone they don't even know, on something so irrelevant as a game or an opinion on a game.
On the other side, when the devs are accused of being lazy, shady, unprofessional and so forth... I often find myself defending them, not because I owe them something or because I need their approval, but because my real life job is, in some ways, similar to theirs (I'm a freelance in a completely different field...) so I can kind of understand their difficulties, challenges, hurdles and in general how they work.
When some people, like I said before, become very polarized, they can only see shenanigans, plots against them by the devs and/or other people, and in general they create their own conspiracy theories to explain why their polarized point of view is not readily accepted by all. Then when they're criticized or even refuted with facts, they lash out and start name-calling.
One other aspect is also probably AGE. Culture has changed a lot depending on what generation you're from, so there's also some kind of cultural barrier between some older gamers (like me) and the younger ones. We don't understand them, and they don't understand us, because we come from completely different places IMO. Of course, I think they're often entitled brats

and want everything served on a silver platter, but I also know this is my biased point of view!

hwell:
I really don't care about the insults when I defend the game or the devs, since my life does not revolve around 7D2D (or gaming in general). On the other hand, I feel kind of sorry for these people who think I'm part of some conspiracy, because I think that they must have their own load of issues in real life.

hwell:
The game will go in the direction the devs deem best, and people have to accept that. You may not like the direction where the game is going, but you can't treat development choices by the devs, like if it was a
coupe d'etat removing democracy in your country. Chill down.