...... a lot of people who would otherwise have been interested in Monero.......
This is true for me as well. Just as much as I look at charts, coin features and white papers, I find it just as important what the the community behind a crypto currency locks like. I have put off several coins and ICOs that I invested in, simply because of the community being trollish or bad influences in general. It is apparent that a few bad apples can really bring down the overall image of a project, and this is especially true for the Monero project.
This also applies to me.
Me too, and it would have been an obvious candidate for diversification without the trolls. Their trolling style is classic
agent provocateur stuff though - wear the emblem of one faction and hurl insults at another, while your actual undisclosed loyalties lie elsewhere.
The trolls have managed to muddy the water for both coins, but also for all of crypto. I doubt that this is accidental.
At risk of overthinking it, the answer to a
cui bono question about the incessant trolling is "fiat-world". Crypto, preferably Dash, will eat their lunch eventually. It will get uglier first though.