@CoolCat05 it was around 2011 with all those fan-made "couple wars" - when fans supporting, for example Shadow and Rouge the Bat had feuds with those, who preferred Knuckles and the same Rouge the Bat. Arguing about such a petty issue...
Of course this is only one example, I remeber there were more conflicts like this with different characters.
From what Parker has shown above, the Sonic Fandom hasn't changed much in terms of mentality.