Thanks everyone. I should note I wasn’t talking about me specifically (as in someone was nasty to me - in fact, I think most that I’ve interacted with have been very nice). But I have read back and read around without posting on everything, and I just got that “newbies suck” impression - again not from everyone.
It is nice that people have taken the time out to explain “the rules” … also I never heard that -gry thing… or the duck thing… so I had no intention of asking anything like that !! 
Just don’t ask about the clique mentioned in TheLoadedDog’s post. I got an earful from my sister Misery’s Company the other day when I brought it up on the phone. It’s one of those conspiracy theory/reality things, depending on whether you feel discriminated against or not.
The existance of the clique is kind of like a counterpart to the newbie/oldie question, but restricted to oldie’s who get pitted/moderated/locked/banned one too many times (in their opinion).
Thank you.
While I agree with the rest of what you say, I don’t agree with this point. I don’t see it as childish OR an indication of newbie-ness. In RH’s case, in particular, it’s an expression of the fun-loving nature I believe she has in real life. And, I use it, myself, from time to time, and have for years. It’s a shortcut, and I LOVE shortcuts.
I know a lot of old-timers feel the way you do. They don’t like smilies, either. I haven’t seen any comments specifically directed at the use of things like “Bwahaha”, but I’d suspect they wouldn’t approve of that, either. So…what is the Officially Approved By Grumpy Oldbies Method[sup]®[/sup] of indicating joy or laughter? 
:eek: I didn’t welcome you?!?!? :eek: I’m so sorry. I guess I didn’t realize you were a newbie. I feel doubly ashamed, after you contributed so much to my thread.
I honestly get a little confused when I see people bitching about being attacked because they’re new. IIRC, I never recieved any newbie-bashing. I didn’t recieve any “Hey, welcome to the boards!” posts either. A lot of people don’t. The biggest cases of alleged “newbie-bashing” that I’ve seen, the person was being an asshole or breaking the rules, they got called on it, and then pulled out the “you just hate me because I’m new!” defense. Sure, there are some cases where people really do pick on the new people, for god knows what reason, but how many more cases are there where a newbie is welcomed and seamlessly integrated? I think a lot of the apparent newbie-bashing is just general asshat-bashing, and it just looks like newbie-bashing because most posters who’v been around for a bit learn not to be asshats.
I could be wrong, though. ::shrug:: YMMV.
Actually, Davebear, you’re right… I am pretty much a fun loving type of person, I generally get on with everyone, I like to hold off on thinking badly about a person until they behave badly and I take people at face value - sure, its not been a wise move sometimes, but I’d rather look at bit stupid than be a complete cynic… oops totally off topic there :o
I’m cool with the “no LOL’s please” - I can just do a instead - though I don’t really get the difference between them? Surely they are one and same thing?
Anyways, when in Rome and all that…
Silly… I hardly expected banners and cake now did I?
Anyway, you were busy getting drinks for the ladies …
I tend to equate and lol, Rhino’sHoney, but I think the smilie is more common around here. Why? Well, we’re a message board, not a chat room. Chat shorthand hasn’t made any serious inroads here. Not to say we don’t have our own shorthand, such as IMHO*, IIRC**, and IANAL***, but chatspeak isn’t really common. (The abbreviations we get come from Usenet, which is a peer-to-peer message board.) So we use the smilies we’ve always had instead of texting abbreviations.
BTW (another abbreviation ;)), you are really good about posting in standard English and not texting your replies. We like that.
*In My Humble Opinion.
**If I Recall Correctly.
***I Am Not A Lawyer. This abbreviation has given rise to a slew of semi-abbreviations, such as IANAAirline Pilot. You’ll see them in GQ fairly often.
I am new myself (uh, was in only yesterday?) and I was welcomed by Davebear and Priceguy, but I am still learning (so sorry for all of those attempted hijackings Dave…no hard feelings, right?) I have noticed a few older dopers razzing some newer members, but I have to say, in most cases they deserved it, did you read the “I drank my own urine” post? They were so amusing in their replies and that poster was asking for the title of King Asshat…but then again, I forget if he was a newbie?
So thanks again to Davebear and Priceguy for the welcome, they made me feel all warm and fuzzy…oh no wait, that was the cheap boxed wine I was drinking at the time…Margo
I’m fairly new and have made my share of mistakes. The biggest problem I have is the server (or my computer) running so slow sometimes that I get impatient and post something without fully investigating if it’s been recently discussed. Seven times out of ten I’ve posted a question in the wrong category.
On the whole, my experience has been positive with a few welcomes from ‘elder’ users. I figure that they are kind of easy on me because I’m working under pressure in the legal saltmines!
Ah, cheap boxed wine - necter of the poorer Gods.
I don’t really agree with number 5 on your list. My first couple of hundred posts were all in GD, and i found that i was accepted into the discussion without any problems, and was not flamed if i made a mistake or two. Of course, it probably helped that i was pretty careful to try to follow the rules, and that i went out of my way to make my points without antagonizing people.
Some new members fly straight into GD without thinking about issues like this, and it can really get ugly when they do. The SDMB is a community like any other, and it’s natural that people react somewhat differently towards strangers than they do towards people that they already know. When i’m reading posts i look in the left-hand column not to check how many posts the person has, but to see if i know the person from previous threads. Often i do, and if that is the case i often have some idea of the attitudes or arguments that the person might bring to the debate in question. If i don’t recognise the username, i read the post and judge the content, whether the person has 5 posts of 5,000.
In fact, about the only time a person’s “newbie” status is relevant to me is when they do something wrong, because i find that i’m likely to cut them more slack (because they’re new) than i would if they were an established Doper and made the same mistake. A comment that would cause me to flame an old hand might earn only a friendly warning for a newbie.
One thing that does get my goat is when people fail to recognize that irony can be hard to spot in a text-based medium. They make a stupid comment, and when called on it insist that they were being ironic, and that you have been “whooshed.” I moaned about this in a recent pit thread. While this is not unique to newbies, they seem to be the most common perpetrators.
Anyway, any newbie concerned enough to start a thread like this one is unlikely to have any troubles on this board. I’m sure you’ve got nothing to worry about.
I treat newbies the same as I treat the veterans, that is unless they attack me. Then I’m very tactful err pretty tactful err tactful. If I deserve the attack then I’ll just crawl into a fetal position. This is the only board I belong to that I am relatively civil and mature. I’m actually acting my age. God this sounds so ******* lame.
I second mhendo’s experience: I’m a regular contributor to GD myself and have had a couple of nice discussions that didn’t come near any nastiness at all. It is true, however, that you must be willing to take some criticism of your views. Since a debate is essentially about being criticised and contradicted, that should not take much of an effort but for some it is different. People who can’t do that fly off the handle, and then it can be a short trip to the exit.
With regard to MSU 1978’s list: excellent work. What I missed when coming here was just that, a brief rundown of some do’s and don’ts. Wouldn’t it be nice if this and similar tips I’ve seen around here would be linked to in the f.a.q.?
I know, most people are welcomed and reminded to the golden rule ‘Don’t be a jerk’. But there are certain idiosyncrasies of this board that newbies like myself may involuntarily violate or step on, thereby unintentionally irritating others. MSU 1978’s list is a very good one for surviving the first three months in SDMB without staying a lurker.
80% of my first 1000 posts were in GD. Haven’t been stopping by there recently as its all become war talk.
Getting along over there are a little different. Be prepared to back up what you say with a cite. If you add an ancedote, be aware of the difference between ancedotal data and statistical data and your own experiences vs. a study. Don’t hijack, read the whole thread, etc.
BTW, If 80% of your first 100 posts are in the Pit, you may want to ask yourself what you are doing here - although I think there have been successful posters (Fred comes to mind) who have done fine specializing in the Pit since day 1.
80% or more of my posts would be in here I would think… I don’t mind adding comments in Pit threads, but I wouldn’t fancy starting one unless I really was gonna blow a gasket over something and needed to vent and didn’t give a damn what anyone thought. But, as that doesn’t happen very often, I think I’ll stick round here a bit more… if nobody minds :D.
Damn Newbie.
cough
Welcome Rhino’sHoney!
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with “Hi! Welcome me - I’m new!” threads, but there are more than 30,000 people here, so one more person joining doesn’t create a huge splash. Maybe that makes this board seem less welcoming than others.
To make a strong impression, a new poster has to do something pretty extreme. And it’s much easier to be extremely annoying than to be extremely brilliant. Most newbies just slip in unnoticed.
I’ve observed a certain prejudicial condescension on the part of some regarding new posters, and also younger posters. Honestly, it really annoys me, although nothing so bad that I’ve had to speak out against it has occurred yet.
I also consider myself a newbie. What does that say? 
**heresiarch **:
Many thanks
**Achernar **:
Kind of begs the question then, given your post numbers, when does a newbie stop being a newbie??