I dunno, I'd say they were a good deal worse than the modern average. They got money together to run a "bring back Hal! Kill Rayner!" full-page ad in Wizard magazine as I recall, and I spent a lot of time on the early DC message boards avoiding the GL conversations because you just could not have a discussion about any aspect of the franchise without them jumping in and going crazy.
To put it into perspective for those who weren't there....think back to earlier this year when the RNC officially backed trump as their 2020 candidate. Remember the crazy woman (I think she's dating one of trump's kids) who was screaming for her entire speech, like she didn't know how microphones work? HEAT made that chick seem sane, mellow, and reasonable.
The Hal v John v Guy debates were a thing long before Kyle came along, far as I know, but Emerald Twilight seems to be when things really went off the rails.