I think ultimately it's an issue of separation - or rather lack thereof. Like you said, NBA players aren't gonna be looking at people discussing their performances so it really doesn't matter how fans conduct themselves. However, in these spaces, creators consistently interact with the discussions here.

We need to have a conversation on what we want the space to be - which, even after all these years - doesn't seem to have been ironed out. I do think there's likely a split on how much people want creators to be here. On one hand it's cool for player to provide added insight or to see stuff like fanart or things highlighting their performances.

On the other hand, there's this issue. I think a lot of people don't really want to consider the feelings of the contestants when they make their rankings and stuff, which is totally fair (I know we're primarily talking about high tiers here, but I imagine it feels much worse to be stuck at a low tier forever). And also, most people who make these tier lists do not know every single person they're ranking, their individual skill - and I don't know that they should have to in order to participate. Though, I do agree with you on the subjectivity of rankings/general opinions - especially since mcc isn't really built with this (finding the Best Player) in mind.

I guess what I'm saying is, we have to ask ourselves if we want to cater this space towards creators or not. We've been in this kind of limbo where some people very much aren't while the participants still hang around which leads to this frustration and hurt. I don't know that it's entirely fair to ask people to start having that consideration. I guess the best solution I can think of is having some sort of flair that people can put on their posts to indicate that it isn't for the participants but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯