I think you may just be remembering the few bad experiences, and forgetting that there are plenty of great ones
Ive seen...
- Players give other players influence to get started. Players they didnt even know. Ive created new toons, only to have someone walk up and offer me influence upon zoning into Atlas
- Players give other players purples, just because.
- Players offer, and give help to others who may be trying to solo something, and are continually dying
- The other day, someone was asking about the email system after emailing themselves inf. Apparently they emailed the wrong address. Players were offering to replace the missing amount
- Lots and lots of questions answered in help, without snide remarks
I was on a Posi a few weeks back in which one player was level 7. We all took time to run a couple missions with the player, to get him/her to 8 so they could run the TF with us. No one was upset, and everyone took part.
I play on Excelsior and Everlasting, so I cant speak for the other servers