yes well i think attitudes like yours are detrimental to the hobby and how it is perceived! for whatever faults it has, the rws and tvs have both been hugely important and inspirational in getting generations of children into railways and then ultimately the hobby itself. and that goes for me as well. i grew up with both the books and the original television series and it was what gave me my love of railways, and if i wanted to model something from the thomas universe then i should be allowed to without the fear that i'm going to be looked down on by people with a superior attitude and made to feel like i am in some way harming the hobby!!
i spend a lot of my time on social media and on there are some absolutely fantastic modellers making amazing representations of places and characters from both rws and tvs, but according to you they are a detriment to the hobby. it's no wonder they tend to stay away from forums like this when there are people with such deplorable attitudes on them. what are you going to do, tell someone with autism that they are wrong and stupid for still liking the ttte universe even as an adult? are you going to look down on them too?
on the subject of the fandom, i agree that it is a very strange and toxic place at times, but then so is rmweb! as far as fandoms are concerned, blame the people not the source material.
weather you like it or not the future of this hobby is going to be the generations who grew up with ttte, and that is fine with me because whatever gets more young people into modelling, visiting preserved railways, and learning about this countries railway history should never be looked down on or belittled. if people want the hobby to stay as some sort of racially pure "you must hate ttte this much to enter" club, then I hope it dies out one day. i would never want to be a part of that.
i am 29. i have apsergers, i did my degree in railway history and have had a railway related job and no one is going to convince me otherwise that ttte has had anything but a positive effect on my life and my time in the hobby!