like a moth to the flames

Mostly he hates the implication that the reason why people who love suffer is that they didn't love enough, or weren't loved enough by someone else, and frankly it's bullshit.

so i actually find the part in the available mid to late 90s version of the batbible where it spells out that the drakes were neglectful pretty interesting. here's the snippet:

Tim is a wealthy version of a latch key kid. He was neglected by both his parents until a couple of years ago when his mother was killed and his father badly disabled by kidnappers. The father, Jack, has partially recovered, but still has only a perfunctory interest in his son. Tim is largely left to his own devices, answering only to a housekeeper, Mrs. Macilvanie, which suits his activities as Robin.

so, the interesting thing to me is not that this Definitively Proves The Drakes Were Abusive Garbage, but that it's an interesting character note that indicates what stories they want to be told regarding tim and his dad and their relationship.

because the batbible, i don't think, is meant to be gospel--as only one version was ever saved/uploaded there was clear indications that there were multiple versions made and it's therefore meant to be a bit malleable, rather than a static, unchanging fact. and it's really just a document that indicates character principles that should be followed to ensure a continuity of canon--the reason why the drakes being neglectful of tim until his mother's death and dad's disabling being in there so that a new writer can't just come on and completely change the established character tensions between jack and tim regarding jack being a semi-absent and perfunctory father and tim's canonical struggles with his father suddenly wanting to be a very present dad while he's trying to be robin after previously not being present. because that is an important established character beat to maintain tim's continuity. imagine if lewis had come on and been like. jack and his wife catherine are nagging tim to do his homework and expecting him for their nightly family dinners in his run! never mind the 10 years dixon spent establishing a whole different dynamic. canon is new again! new 52 or something. no, by putting that in the batbible as something that writers should be trying to abide by, you're able to maintain a rough continuity between different writers.

and i say rough, because again, the batbible is meant to be more of a guiding principle. the reason why things are stated generally and vague at points is so that different writers are free to have different intepretations/their own spins on it. because even the statement "he was neglected by both of his parents until a few years ago" can be very open to both softer and harsher intepretations! because what does this neglect even look like--is it more fanon-y jack and janet don't really like their kid or having a kid? it can be, i guess, though i don't think any canon writer ever went with that intepretation. is it more benign jack and janet are overwhelmed by their marriage failing and tim incidentally becomes part of the fallout as they focus on themselves rather than him? i think there's room for that too. as long as you keep the basic guiding principle that at some point in the preceding years to tim becoming robin, they placed him in boarding school and weren't paying too close attention to his going ons (or: neglect), you're free to intepret the intent of that neglect or why it occurred as harshly or softly as you want.

another interesting thing is that the neglect is not necessarily specified in duration--it's really just saying that he was, at some point, being neglected by his parents until rite of passage occurred and his dad tried to be more present. which, the current status quo at the time of alpod & rite of passage was that at some point between the circus and alpod, they were not present and placed tim in boarding school while the focused on their careers, thereby neglecting him, so that was the status quo.

anyways. now you can certainly take a hardline, completely face value intepretation of the statement of neglect and assume he was neglected in some form by his parents his entire life until rite of passage. but i also do think you can presume that the neglect started more as he got older and their marriage failed and they got busy with business as tim became school aged and able to be placed in the care of others, and they were maybe more present as a family when he was younger and jack and janet liked each other--most renditions of the circus sure make it seem like they're just like any ordinary, present family at least prior to the circus--and that kind of intepretation also fits in with the guidance given in the batbible. he's still functionally being left to his devices at boarding school until rite of passage, when jack comes back on a more permanent, present basis in tim's life.