Why are there more people with negative attitudes towards vegetarians/vegans in this section than there are vegetarians and vegans?

Because people go to the front page, randomly see a question regarding veganism or vegetarianism and they don't know any vegans or vegetarians and that means they believe in a few stereotypes and a few fallacies regarding the diets themselves.

And all the stereotypes of us are pretty bad. Thankfully, they're also inaccurate. But most people don't know that, that's what's up with all the negativity.

"Why are there more people with negative attitudes towards vegetarians/vegans in this section than there are vegetarians and vegans?"

I harbor no negative feeling towards vegetarians and vegans, and therefore I don't have a negative attitude towards them, Whether it's in this section, or elsewhere. While I've said I know one, I forget about another I know, through Yahoo Answers, plus the one who was a good friend, until we each moved to different parts of the country. It's actually only a few who may have such a negative attitude towards vegetarians, and vegans. Like some they actually contribute nothing to those seeking advice, and direction on becoming a vegetarian, or vegan. Although I'm not a vegetarian, or vegan, I still will try when and where I can, to provide as best possible unbiased help in resources to help them get started along with some other information that's important, but in my opinion, also equally important to those who eat meat as well.

However some of (if not a good bit of) what you see, stems from primarily the posts of one specific individual, that's attracted those who are more interested in responding, to them, and not actually trying to provide anything that's informational, helpful, or beneficial. Which has earned me, more than a few thumbs down, from those who like myself eat meat. I'm not going to sit and cherry pick data points, or other points, to suit what I want. Of course I take some heat equally from vegans, and an occasional vegetarian, but so be it.

What I miss are the good and decent vegetarians, and vegans, who have left due to basically a single person, and their occasional cheering squad. That one individual, and others of similar type have done more to cause any such negative attitudes, and ill will than the majority of vegetarians, and vegans have. Some people take the few like that (wrongly though) to represent the majority, as have many taken PETA, and other outlaying groups top be the voice of vegetarians, and vegans as a whole.

I can't say I've noticed any negative attitude towards vegetarians or vegans. Certainly there are a few comments like that but FAR less than the offensive comments directed at non-vegetarians. I've never counted but I think most contributions on this site are from vegetarians and vegans. The majority of contributions don't demonstrate a negative attitude towards anyone.

I've DEFINITELY never seen any negative comments directed towards anyone who goes out of their way to help animals but then it would be very unlikely in the Food and Drink section anyway. Anyone might go out of their way to help an animal but there's nothing to suggest a vegetarian or vegan does so.

There are several reasons for this the first of all is that this section is not just for vegans and vegetarian nor is it supposed to be a soap box to present anti-meat eater complaints as some have used it for. The purpose of this is to ask questions relating to food and since a vegan may not eat meat many fully functioning omnivores consume vegetarian and vegan dishes as a part of their diets and certainly have the right to comment on them.

The negative attitudes can be traced to a very few trolls that post questions often meant to insight anger, or post simple questions then respond with insults in the comments section or even in the answer section. They tend to attract people who take offence about these comments and sometimes respond in a similar manner. There are of course trolls on both sides.

Vegans are not the only ones dedicated to helping animals and if you were to look at those involved, you would find a vast majority of people that work to help or assist animals are also people who eat meat. While this may seem strange to certain vegans their constant condemnation of those that eat meat has helped to create this attitude.

There are a number of very responsible and well versed vegans on this site that can present information in a way that does not insult others. These earn respect for vegans. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, there are several self identified vegans (and I am not sure how honest they are there about being vegan) that have stressed out even the most responsible person and have even attacked other vegans.

Nobody really cares what diet you follow and most of us support people's right to chose their own diet. The negativity comes in when questions are asked such as "why do meat eaters...." with some condemning bs about people that are not vegan/vegetarian. And if a question is asked of a certain demographic in a negative way then it can only be expected to generate negative responses. Then you have the vegan trolls that constantly insult and threaten anyone that doesn't agree and it is human nature to defend ones self. One more point is false information that can actually be dangerous, especially to young people that don't know any better.

Are there? I seem to see a lot more vegans and vegetarians who come here to insult, demean, and otherwise behave badly towards anyone who is not of their way of thinking as regards diet. Some of them actually seem mentally unhinged. I don't care what someone else eats or doesn't eat.

I don't have a negative view of vegans or vegetarians generally, just to the militancy of a handful of them. I think this applies to the majority of those you mention.

I think it's not so much negative attitudes towards veg*n's in general as it is the ones who are very rude about their attitudes towards people who don't share their views.

I don't I have dislike for ANYONE who threatens,insults or makes up lies about other posters.mi have vegetarian family members. I repect them because they repect me.

While you may see veg*ns merely as "those who are dedicated to helping animals", the reality is that many (perhaps most) of those veg*ns who post in this section display mostly contempt and hostility for non-vegetarians, along with lies, exaggerations, and hypocrisy relating to the subject of veg*nism. This in turn attracts non-vegetarians such as myself, who come here to correct the lies, defend against the insults and name-calling, and attempt to deflate some of the conceited and self-righteous egos of some of the veg*ns who post here.

This appears to have discouraged many veg*ns from using this section, as they apparently would prefer a venue where they are free to perpetuate their lies, insults, and fantasies, without having to worry about defending their theories against fact and logic from outside their community.