XMR's propaganda against BBR has really hurt this coin undeservingly. It is almost like the camp wants to ensure that this coin gets obliterated while they can surely tolerate scam coins which are based on the Bitcoin protocol, thrive and have valuation even more than XMR or approaching XMR. dga's post was a real eye opener.
You haven't been paying attention. There has been no XMR propaganda against BBR. We have always said that BBR is a legitimately innovative coin that stands apart from the other cryptonote clones. We don't always agree on the technical specifics of some of the changes but that takes nothing away from the effort that has gone into developing them.
Shame on some of the "core team" and extended team members of XMR who have been spreading this vitriol/nonsense nonstop on the forums, reddit and other websites. Others just took the cue from them.
You are confused and misinformed. There has been no vitriol from the core team about BBR (as opposed to say BCN, where I would say any criticism has been well deserved, but opinions might differ).
Smooth speaks the truth here. I have read much of the XMR main thread over the past 3 month, and I can tell you that there is very little BBR-bashing there. I hope that I would find the same here regarding XMR.
Thanks to everyone who answered my question up-thread. This gives me a pretty good idea of some of the factors and forces that are at play here.
In the end, I still have a good impression of BBR technology and the future of coin. So I will be arranging my finances and looking for a good point at which to buy BBR.