but of course
 

Davina wrote:

I think Sherlock does not give a jot for either praise or criticism from the general public.

 
That's absolutely true, because he says himself that he doesn't care about what other people think. Nevertheless it is important for him what the people who he's closely linked to think about him, such as John, Molly, Mrs Hudson, Lestrade (?). He doesn't live in a vacuum.

These are only marginalia. He doesn't care what John thinks either when it comes to such a knowledge like "the sun is the centre of our solar system". In such cases Sherlock's just Sherlock and he's not interested in John's opinion either. Also remember the "don't turn people into heroes, John"-scene. He doesn't care what John thinks at this very moment. But when it comes to more serious business like hurting someone's feelings (Molly's, John's), Sherlock does care about other people's opinions, at least he doesn't ignore them.

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

Irene refers to Sherlock as "the famous detective in the funny hat," and there are references to him being increasingly famous, due to John's blog and some other media.

So how did the Chief Superintendent not know until this episode how involved Sherlock was with their cases?

 
Same with Molly: Moriarty breaks into the tower, the Pentenville Prison and into the Bank of England. As far as I remember with a picture of himself in the newspaper and Molly didn't notice anything although he was her ex-boyfriend. I think if something like this happened, whole England would notice it.

I think she means that it is odd that no reference is made to Moriarty and all his misdemeanours. But Sherlock does taunt Molly about her ex-boyfriend.