>But that leads to a second theory I have about abusive commenters, that this is a "tech" or engineer thing, and not a creative person thing.

Don't think it's specifically tech-related. Probably goes deeper.

One of my hobbies is music, I play in a live rock band and frequently meet other bands. A feature of fellow amateur musicians that stands out the most to me is how often they are dismissive and snobbish towards other musicians. I've been in bands and amateur musicians' circles in two very different countries, and people in both had this thing going on! It's bizarre. And coming on to the next point...

>Tech has an asshole problem, and maybe there's correlation between people who are technically good, but emotionally abusive or lacking in empathy.

I've seen this behavior from people that are pretty proficient at their instruments more often than from newbies, too!