But she ONLY hits him if he insults her, or does something so compromising that it seems there is no rational explanation for it (like when he snuck into her room to get ryoga).
I think a proverbial classic incident would be one that occured during the Breaking Point arc. Akane has decided to tag along, and cook. Ranma and Genma eat this, and when they're supressing the natural reaction she threatens him with a BUTCHER'S KNIFE if he so much as dares to say anything, while looking downright murderous. If my memory is not to hazy from time, she even admits later, or has by this point admited her cooking is lacking. At the same time she's doesn't really feel guilty about her actions.
That kind of stuff usually qualifies one for the high security section of an Asylum. At least where people who are considered a danger to society actually get locked up. She certainly belongs in there more then Sarah Connor.
That said, it is true that the vast majority of fanfiction in general takes itself way to seriously. Is even 1 in a thousand, tongue in cheek enough to even approach the proper conditions they'd need to mirror the manga? The fan idea of combat is also just a symptom of this, really. Especially as like comic book writers or writers of childern anime Takashi clearly seems to fall into the category of "doesn't really care to bother about maintaining continuity." They do not maintain the spirit, nor in many ways the characters, such that I can hardly recognize the characters as being related except for the names, personally.
Of course, another tangential thing going on here is people for some reason enjoy to turn Ranma into a Mary Sue, and all to often an aliased SI. Part of the Mary Sue architype is that they have had some big bad evil thing happen to them in that past, making others sympathetic towards them, while simultaneously their uber skills bring the wrath of others who are cast as evil.
So is she misunderstood? I'd say not, even Metoranime and Zen give her a lot more leeway then they need to. I suspect many authors aren't really sure what to do with her, or don't want to write her. Even her fans tend to just turn her into mini-fan Kasumi, instead of herself.