I like reading Hey Answerman columns on ANN :D He recently replaced the rants section with a question of the week section, where readers send in their answers. Definitely a lot more interesting. This week's question was "Do you ever feel embarassed by the anime fan community?"
(answers are near the bottom of the page).

In general, mostly from anime walling communities and attending anime conventions - I'd say no, probably because I'm not/don't know that many REALLY REALLY hardcore fans who say, would travel cross-country to attend a con or spend months creating their own cosplay costumes. But generally I view that kind of thing as all in good fun, maybe I just haven't experienced some of the more embarrassing behavior that people often describe first-hand.

I did like this guy's response though: "Ironically, I've noticed that the more a fan tends toward the otaku-bait shows, the less likely they are to insult other fans. Fans of "serious" shows (for lack of a better word) tend more often to be aggressive jerks, targeting those who like the otaku-bait shows. It's a perfect example of elitism at work. I like both kinds, personally, but I don't like being a jerk, or even being near one, so I tend to avoid the latter and fraternize with the former. It makes my life much easier.

Your intelligence is not determined by the anime you watch. And that's a fact."

XD

Read the dating advice in the answers part of the column while you're at it too, it's pretty funny XD

"By and large, they are bi and large"

XD

I think its with everything, its has both a good and bad side. Anime now is seriously so widespread its hard really to talk about a specific fanbase. i.e. alot of relatively normal people watch anime casually and its becoming more and more part of mainstream culture. Its really no longer a small niche/cult or sub culture that watches it, so on the large basis its hard to sya currently. Sure theres a good population of idiots out there I see at places like cons at such, but then again the ratio isnt that much different anywhere else for me personally. Theres assholes everywhere.

With that said, I do think that a good population of anime fans do tend to come off as elitist and ignorant. Many of them are what I would consider Japophiles who are just so in love with Japanese culture almost blindly, many of which no little about it outside what they "learn" from anime. So really i guess the answer is no. It would be yes, but then if you asked me if Im embarrased by the human race currently on a whole, the answer would be yes.

I don't visit ANN anymore (except for consulting the encyclopedia when I need it) because that place somehow was like a nest of elitists (in a negative way), compared to other anime communities. But as for that question, well I suppose my answer is no, I don't feel embarassed. There's weirdos, idiots, good people, normal people, and so on in every kind of community whether it's anime based, videogame based, art based, whatever. Although I've attended only two anime conventions in my country, when I saw people cosplaying I did find it amusing (I would never cosplay, it's not my cup of tea), but not embarassing to watch.