from the evidence I've read, I don't see quite the levels of deceipt and manipulation that are being portrayed as black and white
Then you need to read it more carefully
fold due to schoolyard underdog syndrome.
No, that is not the reason for the reaction. For my part, others may - of course - be different, is that someone has tainted something that was mostly free from outright deception and malpractice. I have a strong aversion to the political, religious, philosophical views of many on here, hell, I find the way some people on here make their living to be objectionable (yep, I am one opinionated ****) and so I mostly avoid the other forum. On this forum yes, there's differences of opinion, yes, Brant does some not-so-stealthy marketing (as he has since the start of this place) and promotes the ethos behind his latest frame and other industry people pop up to add their ha'pennyworth but... differences are mostly respected. And, for the most part, the outside world is set aside as much as possible and all those political etc differences are temporarily forgetten whilst bikes are talked, routes are swapped and slack angles examined.
Until now no one has embarked on a campaign of attempting to undermine other people's business in this almost happy little world. But now, it would seem, the evidence is fairly damning that TB/F has shat in the pool. For that all the disapprobation is deserved.
EDIT: re:censorship. The extent of my opinionated nature deserved 12 asterixes.