John, have you ever seen the bumper sticker that reads "THE MORE I KNOW ABOUT PEOPLE, THE MORE I LIKE MY DOG?" It is funny because to some degree it is true.
I also find it humorous that the rat rod craze began because some rodders disliked the pretentiousness of "street rodders" and wanted to be free to build cars any way they wanted. Then all of a sudden, some rat rodders started looking down their noses at people they termed "gold chainers" who had a few bucks to put some bling on their cars. Not all rat rodders are this way, just some.
Bottom line, all of us humans have flaws and like to tell everyone else how they should do things...........it's just in our nature. You have to take people with a grain of salt and ask yourself when one of these opinions surface "does this person put any bread on my table?" Until they start sending you a check to build your car THEIR way, their opinion isn't worth the time of day.
Isolate yourself from the forums and car scene for a while, cut and bend some steel, then return to it when it becomes fun for you again. I parked my '27 for 7 years and didn't go to any car functions except Turkey Run.......I was just burned out on it too. Now it is fun again and I'm ready to take in some shows and cruises.
Hope the vacation does you some good bud. :) :)
Don