Parmandur
Book-Friend, he/him
2012 was bad, the old WotC forums. The hardcore 4E players had existed in a mod enforced bubble.
They were prepared to fight 3.X players but the influx of OSR and casuals flummoxed them lol.
It was around then I think some of the smarter ones worked out why 4E flopped. They spent so much time inventing arguments over 3.5. Ideas of playing OSR for balance reasons mostly eluded them.
It's was funny watching them trying to project 3.5isms onto older D&D when it became obvious a few hadn't played it and were projecting things based on hearsay.
I always got the impression those official forums were a give of scum and villainy, to be honest. Lots of moderaters, but not much moderation.