If there's an impression that the forums aren't "newbie friendly", at least some of that stems from the fact that a lot of the arguments have already been made.
When a new person drags a horse from the grave and tries to hop on, everyone already knows that horse won't trot, but the calvacade of warnings can feel like a coordinated attack. That's understandable, and I can see where ISP's comments are derived, sometimes it takes a minute to feel out the climate of a place.
That's just what it is, there is no such forum as the one where someone brand new starts posting and demands things their way and the existing community happily changes everything to accomodate.
But if someone honestly thinks there's some sort of coordinated clique who are favored by the mods trying to somehow deflate a new member's enthusiasm for Shadowrun, they just aren't thinking it through. They aren't seeing the moderator messages sent to others. They haven't scoured the various threads to see the times (plural) two supposed buddies have called each other idiots in so many words.
And they aren't thinking about the fact that it is in our best interest to cultivate and grow this community as big as we can get it... and that we all know it.
Questions were asked and sincere responses were offered. They didn't fit the poster's expectations, so they lashed out. They accused people of trolling when those people offered views that weren't what they were looking for.
No, these forums are not hostile to new members, especially not in any coordinated sense.
Sure, some individuals are more sarcastic than others, some enjoy contention, some are simply thick-headed... but that's any community.
Anyway, starting to ramble here, I'll close with this:
Any doubts I had about my assessment of the situation, that the single source of the issues was the OP, evaporated immediately when they circumvented their ban to toss in a few cheap shots...
(Though don't be surprised if Stainless Steel Troll Rats somehow make it into an upcoming Mission...)
