I think the important thing here to point out is that certainly no one wants bad blood with either of you guys, and I think it's true to say that no one really wants you guys to just go away if you really feel like you have something to add here.
It's just that long time members have pretty much all been around for 5 or more years. So it really is cliquish, with lots of inside jokes, and a particular way of doing things around here. And we do in fact come down on the n00bs just for being new. It's definitely not fair, but it never really was intended to be. Because the board is so small and personal, joining the forums isn't just about being able to post, it's about joining a family of sorts (albeit a mildly dysfunctional one
), and so we just sorta started ensuring the new members fit in with the old members by beating up on anyone different.
However, I'm actually a bit torn lately about whether or not that sort of hazing is a good idea. It does a pretty good job at keeping out the street racers and the ricers. And certainly it can be entertaining and an ego boost for the old timers that have seen it all and answered all the same questions over and over to tear into someone that wants to know what BOV they should get. But on the other hand, we may be driving away people that would be assets to the club just because they're not a carbon copy of the people already here. Cody and 100% keep coming up, and again they're a great example of this. Both those guys ended up being decent members that contribute to the boards, but I'm actually amazed they stuck around long enough for us to realize it, simply because we really did give them a lot of shit over a lot of insignificant stuff.
And that's why I hope you guys stick around, at least at some level. Chris, you seem to know quite a bit about EVOs, and even though this is a Subaru club, very few of us are hard-core fanboys of Subarus and most of us appreciate anything on 4 (or even 2) wheels. We like to have knowledgeable folks around, period. And Mary, the same thing that pissed off a lot of people is also something worth contributing if it's in appropriate doses. I don't think anyone was really upset about the rant/rave thread until it got ugly at the end. Before the whole cop thing, it was something interesting (and dare I say entertaining) to read, albeit a bit hectic. Same with the $33M Megabucks thread, which actually sparked a decent discussion. All you need to do is to let the thread play out on its own w/o turning it into a frantic blog of personal info, and dial back the crazy and/or inflammatory statements that lead to arguments and hurt feelings. Stuff like "cops suck" and "I think it would be fun to shoot people" will definitely get a response from folks, but not a good one.
And one more thing to mention, we take the tech forums kinda seriously. The threads in there are all about benefiting everyone. So if someone asks for help in there, we try hard to answer their questions seriously regardless of someone's reputation elsewhere on the boards. And we take special offense to folks that go off-topic and derail a tech thread (n00bs really get pounded for that especially). It's not something that we have posted as a "rule" or anything, it's just sort of the way it is, and people figure that out just by being around here a while. The idea is that as people make threads there, they should remain helpful and on-topic for all, so anyone else that runs across a similar issue in the future might already have their questions answered. When Mary played the "I'm just going to listen to the people I like" card in her tech thread and then went on as if she were IMing, I don't think she realized that we basically consider all the threads in the tech forum as "community property", and that she was essentially offending the folks that work hard to try to make the tech forum useful to everyone.
So anyway... I'm hoping this drama is pretty much over. And I'm glad no one ended up getting banned. And I'm tired of writing long introspective posts (brought to you by my lack of important shit to do at work this week). In the words of Rodney King, "OW! Quit hitting me in the face, asshole!"
Cant we all just get along?