Well, consider them "casual fans," rather than fanatics. Or fans of the "literature" over the "art," which is a camp I'm mostly in. I enjoy the books, but...usually don't care who the people are behind them, or at least, not in relation to the comic itself. Honestly, I was probably reading comics for almost fifteen years before realizing that the names on the splash page might have some utility, and I was still baffled when Image started up, because who could possibly care that a bunch of artists moved out on their own...?
But still, that shouldn't be that discouraging. Fans (despite moves by Marvel and DC to the contrary) aren't a stagnant pool of readers. They wax and wane in their interests, and enter and exit throughout their lives. You might catch them the next time they pass through. That a baseball fan doesn't know that the Dodgers came out of Brooklyn (to pick a real-world example) isn't a huge failure, I don't think. You might be able to make a case for drivers who don't understand Newtonian motion, though...
Now, if you must feel discouraged, aim it at the people who publish books and web pages without checking their asserted "facts." If you're positioning yourself as an expert on a topic or a character (I don't really want to single out a Two-Morrows book, but the Blue Beetle book read like it was tossed off over lunch), not doing your homework shows a complete lack of ability and ethic. We need to fix them.