I think certain people, for some reason, think that you are historically connected to Fender (and still get credit for their products); and thus you are a closet Fender fan; e.g., you don't consider Fender as your competition.
My take is that human nature tends to be self-centered. Sort of like the person who wants to tell the bride at her own wedding how much nicer their wedding was. It is bad manners and a lack of consideration. Just have to look them right in the eye and say "That's lovely dear, but, we're not here for that!".
The Fender forum sucks and is run by an egomaniacal asshole. But isn't variety the spice of life? Maybe it's a guitard thing, but many of us don't live and die by one brand. No reason for EBMM fans to not be proud of their Fenders.
Agree 100 percent, but the photo albums occasionally fill up with non-EBMM brands and it's EBMM paying for the bandwidth. And I don't think - generally - that people are being rude or self-centered; there's a level of comfort here that can occasionally make us forget that this isn't a wide-open anything-goes forum.