Wellllllll....as someone who has been going York since 1978 I guess I would say that the G.D. (grumpy dudes) crowd is just one part of the distribution of people and opinions one can find at/about York. The problem you have with that subset of the York attendees population is that complainers are far more likely to offer an opinion than individuals who are not. For me, York has always been fun. There are aspects of the meet I don't care for but these are far outweighed by other aspects which I do enjoy.
Over the years I've had a number of very memorable experiences - here's one. Many years ago I discovered that a co-worker had relatives living in York. He was interested in trains but had never heard of TCA nor been aware of the meet. He was into post-war Lionel and had been searching high and low for a brand new #356 operating freight station. He was convinced they were impossible to find.
I assured him he would find dozens at York. He was visiting his relatives that weekend so I picked him up at their place and we headed over to the fairgrounds. We went in, registered, waited, and when the starting pistol was fired went immediately into Blue hall. Sitting on the second table in from the door was a new boxed #356 for $40 (back then this was a lot more than the going price). He grinned, reached for his wallet, and I stopped him. I told him the price was way out of line and there would be others for less. Reluctantly he put away his wallet and we walked maybe 50 feet further and there was another one - new, boxed - $30 dollars - again, I told him to wait and we did so. Another 60 feet or so and we found a 3rd - same condition $22.50. Again I told him to wait. Again he put away his wallet, looked wistfully at the $22.50 and with some hesitation continued to follow me.
We reached the end of the first row and there was another one - same condition - $15. Before I could say anything, he grabbed his wallet, turned to me, and in a loud voice proclaimed, "I don't care if there is a cheaper one in this meet - I can't take it any more! I'm buying this one RIGHT NOW!" The table owner was somewhat taken aback at the outburst but the the $15 was offered and accepted and we walked out of Blue Hall with his first purchase of the day.