I don't actually disagree with the forums being a hotbed of trolling, there are typically some fairly dire posts on the front page containing varying levels of spite, vitriol or complete nonsense, and when you view the JP forums by comparison it is actually embarrassing to witness. It also seems to have gotten much worse lately, possibly in relation to the game's increased popularity.

But the irony in singling out possibly one of the overall least inflammatory threads that, a few troll posts from angry dissidents aside, has mostly been a source of debate/ discussion at a reasonably consistent level... it's just more of that childish and increasingly prolific rhetoric on social media that anything critical or even remotely questioning equates to "negative", which for some reason now has a permanent connotation of being "bad" and automatically wrong. It's frequently used as a method for silencing anyone who disagrees with any of the given established hiveminds that are unnervingly rampant online these days, and is far from limited to the FFXIV player base. I just don't bother engaging with it. Knowing my place in such spaces is tolerated so long as I join in the bland positivity of glamour screenshots and fluff comics and don't breathe a word against one's beloved comfort character/ plot point isn't a particularly fulfilling or enjoyable experience, and it's at the point now where I'll scroll through feeds and everyone just talks and sounds exactly the same anyway.