I definitely think it was less volatile than it is now but there were still really immature and obnoxious fans. I had a friend who refused to read it because apparently at some convention he went to Homestuck fans were kind of destructive. Debates on different characters were always pretty heated because it's just hard to separate your emotions from the story when Hussie wrote teenagers so well. Some of the situations and ways they treated each other hit really close to home, which is a huge compliment to his character development but it didn't make the environment great for respectful discussion and analysis (I think that part was a little more civil back then but probably not by much.)

That being said, at the height of its popularity it attracted some of the most incredible writers and artists which made the fandom experience amazing. The excitement when you got online and saw people posting that there was a new update was like nothing else. Catching up and freaking out about new developments and getting to discuss them in real time with other fans was so much fun.