Letsrun is unfortunately a very toxic forum, but also has loads of knowledgeable folks. It's like reading a wikipedia article with commentary from 4chan on the side.

That is all of LetsRun. It is an incredibly toxic community full of experts and trolls.

Not toxic, just informed. When people follow a sport closely ("passionately") they're more likely to be offended by and call out bullshit. The shoes provide a significant mechanical advantage that most consider unfair. Others claim they're just shoes, but then you might as well claim that rollerblades are shoes.

This comes on the heels of US anti doping handing a 4 year ban to the coach of Nike's elite running team. People who follow that side of the sport have little faith that athletics (or cycling, or any other sport) is any cleaner now than in past decades, which is to say, every successful endurance athlete is on some kind of gear.