I didn’t realize there was a link. And found the comment strange.
What link?
Not everyone has seen the same movies, read the same books, etc., something you might keep in mind when posting. I groaned when I saw your comment.
When I read Discobot in a blonde wig it immediately conjured up Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill. Slasherbots need not apply.
Same. I rolled my eyes and sighed.
I thought it was perfectly fine (and funny), but I’m a fan of Galaxy Quest and knew what he was referring to.
This should be bolded, underlined twice and italicized. This is not generally a welcoming place for newcomers. Besides what engineer_comp_geek pointed out there is the ever popular " look at his join date" or ,god forbid, a new poster joins into an ongoing thread and gets a reply of “who are you again?” There are a couple of long time posters who never fail to point out the new guy on the board, and it’s not to welcome them.
BTW, I like discobot. It’s replies are usually funnier than anything kaylasdad99 contributes.
Now that was just hurtful.
I second and third and forth this. It is not a welcoming place for the most part. There are a few, very few, threads where a new person is allowed to feel welcome.
There is a lot of escalating meanness and gotcha!! as if to show “what do we have to do to you so you will shut up and go away?” “This is an old boy/girls club and you are an unwanted interloper. Go away”. I’m sure untold many do, more’s the pity.
Nah, it’s this:
(And I hope that image haunts your dreams–or rather your nightmares–when you sleep!)
More like this.
I hear this sentiment a lot but I don’t see it a lot. Admittedly, I read a relatively small percentage of the total ongoing threads on the board. I suspect a lot of older posters remember that we used to be quite insular and snooty, but I don’t really think that’s the case anymore.
I see “welcome to the boards!” quite often and can’t remember the last time I saw somebody turn up their noses at a good-faith contribution to a thread from a new poster. For that reason, I like the little welcome message that the board generates.
As for zombies, I have previously used the Stewart’s Sandwich thread (probably the #1-most zombified thread on the boards) to show that even new posters who are warmly or neutrally welcomed tend not to stick around if their sole purpose in showing up is to bump a very old thread. No newbie has ever been berated for bumping that thread, and I don’t think a single one became a regular poster. They come in, contribute their anecdote or new information, and then leave again.
But fine, start warning people under the “don’t be a jerk” rule when they abuse a newbie. Whether this kind of thing is rare or rampant, punishing jerks is always good for the long-term health of the board.
eta:
I have often seen this used as an insult directed at an established poster, but never at a newbie.
I saw it as a new poster. And I haven’t been here all that long.
You’ve been here for six years! 
That may not be a long time relative to the age of this board, but in Internet Years it’s a very long time indeed.
A more relevant consideration would be to investigate whether the posters who did it to you then are a) still around and b) still treating newbies that way.
But like I said, stomping the jackboot on newbie bullies as a matter of policy sounds great to me. I just think you’ll probably find yourselves not doing it all that often, or spending an awful lot of time arbitrating the spectrum between gentle teasing (“twenty lashes with a wet noodle, someone will be along shortly with the hamsters”) and outright hostility.
And then the thread gets closed. I really disagree with closing (most) zombie threads bumped by a newbie. Not only do they get made fun of for a few posts, the one thing that brought them here is ended in a seemingly punitive way and it’s All. Their. Fault. Other existing posters that may have enjoyed responding to an old thread from before our time here or were simply missed are also shut out.
When I first became a mod I would close zombie threads just because that was what we had always done. I started to rethink that after some ATMB discussions, and these days I’ll usually leave the thread open, unless it’s clear that the revived thread is going to end poorly. Often we’ll get some new and interesting discussions, so I think it’s worth giving the zombies a shot at some new life.
You’re making it hard for me to stay mad. Thanks for moderating.
Has the “this is the first time … let’s welcome them etc” “feature” been
removed ?
Currently being discussed elsewhere: