You're unlikely to become a target because you can actually communicate well, and you seem to read enough to know what's going on. Most of the hate I see is directed towards spammers that want nothing but to pad their post counts to join signature campaigns. That mess led to the introduction of merit, toning down a lot of negativity regarding Default Trust users, but opening a new can of worms in merit abuse, etc.

I do agree that everyone should be treated with at least a little bit of respect though. Hurling insults is just about as helpful as the spam that spammers post in my opinion. Using the Ignore feature is a lot easier and a lot less negative. That being said, this goes both ways as I also see personal attacks as retaliation to red trust, etc., in which case you can't really fault the senior member for losing their top. The best way to tackle this is probably to just help who you can and try not to get too involved in personal attacks.