Right? People are funny like that, getting defensive over images. Like... it's okay to like a manipulated photo? You don't have to stop liking the image just because someone points out the "trick" to getting it. (Though agreed - a lot of people overdo it.)

Oh good lord. That sounds awful. I'd haaaaaate some rando (and leader of the group! should know better!!) grabbing onto me to gush. Like, if it's between people who know that's welcome, cool, but personal boundaries are a thing! And you'd think, with the fairly... "tumblr-esque" nature of some of the crowd, they'd be well aware of many reasons random touch might not be desired. Eesh.
(Then again, I've met people who do understand that some people don't want to be touched... but switch it around to how their *particular* mental/emotional/psychological situation means that they *have* to touch people, and not allowing them to do so is ableist against them. Not saying that's the case *there*, just that I've encountered it among the group of con-going friends-of-friends in college.)