The thing is, with any animal that isn't either
A) So expensive you'd better put the effort into keeping it alive, or
B) A dog, cat, or horse
You're going to get people who just don't care about them and view them as throw-away pets. This happens even with small mammals like rabbits that everyone thinks are adorable and obviously have emotions/reactions that people can understand. It's even worse with animals like snakes that most people have a hard time understanding.
There are already plenty of people with garters out there who are like that I imagine; why else would the less reputable large dealers sell a bunch of offspring from wild-caught females every year at rock bottom prices? Just like with any animal, I think you'll see that the people who bother to look up reputable breeders are going to generally at least be decent owners, and the people who want the cheapest, easiest to obtain animal and buy on a whim are going to typically be poor snake keepers. I do think most of the people who just don't care aren't going to be very noticeable to the garter community as a whole because it is a comparatively very small and close-knit group. Compare that to the bigger ball python communities with 50,000 plus members where no one really knows anyone else except for people who have been around and active for years.
If you don't really care, it's probably a lot easier to post in a community like that than it is in one like this just because of the added feeling of anonymity...