(I do get the impression a lot of the younger First Age fans and shippers haven't read the book, although maybe I'm being uncharitable.)

Sometimes it feels like they've read a completely different book. (And there are people in general fandom who read and even write fics for canons they haven't read/seen.)

There have been a couple of doozies of wank since that timeframe, but yeah, it had mostly calmed down at that point.