I could not disagree more with the original post. I am not sure in which part of the forum he/she has been hanging out, but I stick to the Mac hardware and Apple Systems and Services sub forums. I also sometimes post in the news section and I've participated in the developer sub forums. The news section is a beast of its own and there is no need to say any more, since others have described it accurately already.
On the other forums I have mainly found users that are knowledgeable and go the extra mile to help. I have followed that example and have spent a lot of time diagnosing posters' issues or concerns step by step, even though it can be frustrating sometimes. Sure, there are occasional trolls, but that is life and as one goes through it, one will discover that there are trolls everywhere. Learning to deal with it is an important "life task".
I cannot abide by blind ignorance or stupidity and will call it out. Some sensitive people may think I am "trolling" them. Sometimes I do it in a nice way and sometimes in a less tactful manner, when I feel it is deserved. I have no time for people boldly spreading misinformation that other impressionable users will read and regurgitate. I also generally cannot stand people that "call wolf" and cannot resolve things without the intervention of a third party.
In a perfect world we should be able to moderate ourselves and most emotionally stable people are able to do this in the real world. On the internet things are different since it's much easier to say things to theSeb using your keyboard that you would think twice about saying when you're facing a 6'3" 240 pound man. Then there is also the problem of miscommunication using the written language. Things are taken out of context or misunderstood. A lot of times the intention, or the humour, is lost in the post and people get upset and argumentative for no reason.