I suspect it taps into human nature when it comes to comms not done in person, which is why the A vs B sides thing has got so much traction and is (sadly) winning out. People aren't opposing the shift, they are actively embracing it and accelerating it.

In my time on reddit I've seen a massive cultural shift on this sub over 15 years+. Now there's some very vocal and dedicated people that absolutely insist that everything about the other team is wrong and will rigidly stick to supporting everything about their team even when it becomes absurd (with the comedy resulting from the contortions they have to do), and that's before we get into the belligerence of cultural issues.

My consolation is that offline people are extremely decent and mostly ignore all the vitriol.