new thing -> meeting place for specific topic -> wider adoption -> laypeople -> "assertive" people with weird points of view -> arguments -> drama -> original p

new thing -> meeting place for specific topic -> wider adoption -> laypeople -> "assertive" people with weird points of view -> arguments -> drama -> original people seek new meeting place -> repeat usenet, forums, message boards, reddit, twitter, the internet. edit: this happens everywhere. hopefully the original people can sneak back into these places after the nutjobs have finished gloating over the empty battlefield and have gone off to annoy someone else.