I agree that forums like this do nothing to help my cycling. And I have to remember not to let them hurt my attitude toward cycling.
I ride with a large social club on the weekends, and we have none of the bizarre and elitist cliqu-ish stuff that (so far) I have found only online. Arguing about what you shouldn't wear? Sorry, I've never seen it in real life. Our club has riders in matching outfits down to the socks, and riders in t-shirts. And nobody seems to care. There are a few that follow racing, but they don't push it down the throats of those who don't.
With that said - I do look online when I need to learn something. Maintenance issues mostly. There are many good web sites like Sheldon Brown, Park Tool, Bicycle Tutor, etc. And when I'm still not sure, I come here and usually find no agreement about the right way to do anything. This helps me to walk into the bike shop and ask intelligent questions, ask for exactly what I need. So I follow the Mechanics forum here pretty well, but the rest of them? Not so much.