I believe in inclusivity - there's room for all types. Beginners and bedroom players sometimes don't really understand context beyond their limited frame of reference. That's only natural, and I think that happens in most fields to some extent. They still need and deserve a place to share.
Finding one like this that's free of internet trolls is like an oasis in the desert.
As for advice, you just need to decide what to listen to and what to ignore. (Which isn't always as simple as it sounds - people tend to tune out anything that doesn't suit their preconceptions, and it's easy to miss valuable information that way. I'm as guilty of this as anyone.)
With some experience we learn that when it comes to tone, context is everything. What sounds good by itself usually doesn't sound good in a mix and listening to isolated tracks (a wonderful resource in the modern age) of great tones, they mostly don't sound very much as you'd expect.
There's a staggering variety of choices out there for instrumental sounds and types of music. It's a golden age for gear - more different guitars than ever before, endless effects & amps. The old-timers can remember far more limited choices, when we had to learn to do more with less. While we used to wish desperately for better options, it's easy to ignore how much that forced us to grow as players...
Certainly some music is far less visible in modern media. For instance, there's a persistent rumor that jazz is dying.
Actually there are more playing it than ever, it's just ignored in the media stream.
And in these days of overproduced pop pap, "R&B" which has little to do with soul and nothing of the blues, and hiphop all dominating the sales charts, it can be easy to feel like this is the only thing happening.
Yet how many narrow specific subgenres of rock are there now? Every one of them has plenty of bands that sit squarely in that category, even the pretty far-out ones.
In the days of classic rock these subdivisions didn't exist, yet today their bands and releases far outnumber those in the established general rock category.
It's just that fans have to dig for them, or be turned on to them by fellow enthusiasts - again, they don't show up in the mainstream.
Just as amps and distortion turned guitar into a whole new thing (which many decried, including Leo Fender who hated distortion), musicians are still broadening the scope of what guitars do. Some have gone ambient, others have gone minimalist, worship guitar is a thing now, and even shredding continues to progress. Not to mention the countless players who are looking to go back to the roots, keeping the old-time music not just alive but growing in new directions.
Guitar dying out? Its exclusive dominance may have been challenged, sure. Yet the electric guitar is literally iconic in modern society, an image all will recognize with its own attached lexicon of meaning and implications. Yes, the image is open to ridicule now - that's the flip side of fame.
Still, far more guitars are being made and sold now than in the glory days when electric guitar completely dominated the airwaves. It isn't going anywhere.
"Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr Epstein." - Decca A&R rep Dick Rowe, when he turned down The Beatles for a record deal.
(and no I didn't do the mod....).
