You'll find thin-skinned people everywhere.
That said, GX numbers did not swell because it was embattled. The way I and other sold it to new players was as an opportunity to engage in long-term, vibrant roleplay. Most of the players in GX are new and just over a dozen (mostly founders) have been in realm longer than 200 days. We've actually lost dozens of players for various reasons over the last year. Of the 30 or so original founding families, only half of that remains, to say nothing of all the new folks we were unable to retain.