I get where you’re coming from.

Although if the project is so toxic and horrible to interact with - wouldn’t people look for a more wholesome project?

I don’t agree that the toxic project would stifle growth for other less toxic projects solely by existing. If it’s that bad then it shouldn’t be that much more popular?

Besides what is stopping people from forking and building a less toxic community?

What irks me mostly about these complaints is exactly that: a whole lot of complaining and handwringing going on and very little action to improve the situation or even trying to understand how it came to be.