I’m not sure i’m in any cliques. I mean, there’s a lot of types of thread i’m likely to post in, but I don’t generally feel kinship with people that agree with me since we usually disagree on something else. There isn’t really anyone i’ve thought “Ah, this person thinks exactly like me!” about.
But eh, 90% of cliquishness is about how other people see you, not how you see you, so I don’t really know.
This is the part that has me up at night. (Okay, not literally. But it has crossed my mind.) I assume that “the cool kids” and “the nerdy kids” and “the jocks” at school didn’t think of themselves as exclusionary, but they sure felt like it to me. So am I in the thick of a clique and I just don’t realize it?
Not in any cliques, Revenant? You’re like, the founder of the Mafia clique!
To a certain degree, and this is not cliquishness, I expect to see certain people turn up for certain discussions.
If a title says beer, many of the usual suspects shows up and I immediately expect to see **Silenus ** among many other.
If it is NFL related, Ellis Dee, Omniescient, Hal Briston and **D_odds ** are likely to already be in the threads.
If it is a question about how to save energy or recycle, I expect to see **WhyNot ** ;), **Phlosphr ** and myself showup. If it turns to power generation, then **Una ** and **Stranger ** might drop by or Jshore.
If Tolkien is mentions, myself and **QtM ** are drawn in quickly and many others.
Etc.
I don’t think there is much cliquishness on The Dope, but I have rarely seen office politics going on around me, either, and I’m fairly sure there have been office politics at at least some of my jobs. I guess what I’m saying is, if there is cliquishness on The Dope, I don’t see it, it’s not affecting me, so I don’t care if there is or not.
How’s that? 
Except maybe the Moderator clique, with their fancy jackboots and underoos, lording it over everyone.
The whole question baffles me. “Danger”? How can there be a “clique” on a message board? This isn’t high school anymore. You’ve graduated–didn’t they tell you that?
Sorry you missed it, the whole question was loaded. I don’t think there are any dangerous cliques on the board or danger of them coming into being and I was wondering what others thought is all.
I think we are only prone to the usual suspects syndrome if there was such a syndrome.
You mean it’s not? 
:eek: <cancels membership>
The MMP is not really a clique (just don’t tell anyone the location of our secret clubhouse!)–it’s a bunch of misfit toys who like to hear about mundane, pointless things on Mondays. I consider it my home of sorts, but I didn’t stumble onto it until I had been here awhile. It’s where I go when I get tired of offending people and forcing others to live my Stepford existence. Anyone is welcome–what puzzles most folk is that while we welcome all, we tend to not be confrontational or snarky with one another there. I’ve gotten into angry disagreements with some MMPers in the Pit or elsewhere, but we leave that outside the MMP. It’s nice. So, not a clique, but like a relative’s house where you know you’re welcome and let your hair down a bit. It can be sanity saving.
Some posters have been here a long time and “know” one another. Some are sort of mini-celebs (sampiro, QtM, can’t think of others but I know there are many), who may be deferred to or solicited for opinions. The rest of us are the Great Unwashed–I’m fine with that.
I will say this: I stumbled onto something the other day which baffled me (still does). A poster made mention of (implied) damage to my reputation here on the Dope. I am still about that.
People do get reps, I suppose, but I don’t think I have one. If I do, I have no idea what it could be. But if enough people have them, and those people seem to “hang together”, I suppose a clique could develop.
I would def. consider myself to be part of the MafiaDopers, since that’s pretty much how I ended up here. I used to read these forums for a good 2-4 years, but never really considered joining anytime soon. But then you guys had Mafia games, and that’s when I really started learning about the People rather than just reading for the ideas and such. And I started to like it a whole lot more, as the whole place felt more “alive” to me then, as I would start to recognize certain posters and such rather than just read each thread individually.
And so when I got a chance to play with you Dopers, I certainly went for that choice. And now here I am! But I still don’t consider myself a “full” Doper yet, since it’s not even been a week, however, I fully recognize and associate with the Mafia players here, and I think i’m less intimidated by seeing them around than some of the heavier names that I’ve read for the last few years but never interacted with.
Well welcome to the Dope then and don’t worry most of us don’t bite. Watch out for a few like Hostile Dialect though, he bites and claws*. 
Dude, I feel like I already know you, and we’ve never even played in the same game. :dubious: 
I think the Dope is a pretty open place. I just jumped right into the deep end and started swimming! I must say the MMP is a great place to hang out!
I see you as someone I can learn from so when I see your posts I pay attention. Now don’t go gettin’ a big head.
I know! What are we – chopped liver?
I’ll bet I’ve done this though, and it isn’t done to slight anyone. Sometimes the quoted/questioned post is positioned in the thread so that it’s easier to quote/question that one. And don’t tell anybody, but sometimes people don’t read the whole thread before posting. Shhhhhh!
I feel a kinship with Wire fans and readers, but we aren’t cliquey.
I would say there’s a Game Room Gang that hangs out and plays The Feud and other games. I don’t know if I’d call it a clique though, as that implies, to me, a certain degree of exclusiveness that I have not seen.
Edit: I R gud spellr.
Having been on another forum for a while where there was at least one definite clique, very exclusionary and very obvious about it, I can say that I have indeed seen cliques in action on message boards. Fortunately, I’ve seen nothing of the sort here on the Dope. If you don’t understand what’s going on, you ask and someone always jumps in to fill you in. Like all the Hal Briston sheep references. There are lots of board in-jokes like that, but as far as I can see everyone is happy to include newbies into the in-jokes.
This is a very comfortable place to hang out.
As many other have said, I don’t see cliques as much as groups with similar interests.
And the MMP isn’t a clique. Because we’re nice, dammit!
And not exclusive. I agree.
I think the only clique on the SDMB is the Mods and Admins and it would be hard to have a message board without that clique.
as a recovering vegetarian of 13 years, you may say I’m quite proud to be part of the Bacon clique.
I don’t like cliques, but only because I misspelled that particular word at the county spelling bee in the 4th grade.
