milkybar emailed about how she felt on this subject, and it summed it all up so well i asked if i could publish that email here. she has agreed... so here it is for your consideration...
"just a message to say that (for once) I agreed with your comment about the fewer the posts the better (not because I presume to think that my opinion makes much difference in the scheme of things but because I feel compelled to express agreement).
BL is what it is thanks to the frequent posters but by the same token it doesn't take long to realise which members hold the 'power'. It's intimidating for newcomers to be actually made to feel like newcomers by being either ignored, flamed, received with sarcasm, or told that they shouldn't be able to post until they've been 'trained' (especially when some of the more pointless posts are by put up by regulars).
BL is a great site, but what's made it less than attractive for me personally is the amount of overtly opinionated posts that either victimise a poster or make fun of them. It's good to feel like you belong to some kind of exclusive group but when it comes at the cost of forming cliques and alienating non-members, is it really worth it?
Anyway, I'm off the point. It seemed for a long while that you were turning into some sort of weird cult-leader guru-type figure shielding only the few BL members worthy of joining the flock but you surprised me by actually sticking up for the less visible members that don't go to meet-ups or post everytime they come home still rolling.
Ciao,
the-almost-sorry-that-I-lurked-at-Gatecrasher,
Milkybar."
please dont let this be an excuse for another flame war. the point of this is to consider all the hundreds of people that use this site every day but dont post. we are here to help people, not form a club. language such as newbie does nothing but alienate people who have so much to offer...
yes entropope, i have no tact, i've already apologised to them for that, but at least this issue is out in the open.
[This message has been edited by johnboy (edited 28 April 2000).]