I'm by no means a 'newbie', but when I originally decided to 'come out' of lurking and contribute to posts, I was welcomed and my opinion was turned over along with everyone elses.
There didn't seem to be any 'gangs' or 'playground bullying', like there is now (and I know I'll be vilified for daring to voice my opinion, I don't care, I'm going anyway) there was wise advice, support, jokes, chat - and no, it wasn't bland and boring, it was vibrant and supportive.
So many posters have disappeared (or morphed into someone else). I recently dipped my toes in the water to see what it was like, and they didn't get bitten by a shoal of piranha fish, as sometimes can happen, but I've ended up feeling invisible as my remarks are ignored, trampled over in the rush to chat in the gang. If this were RL, and I was in a group of people (not friends) who were rude enough to totally ignore any of my input, I'd feel very hurt, leave and never go back. I believe Hillwalker has some of the same feelings - anyone read her thread? PS: I'm not flouncing off, I'm tired and disallusioned and feel more like dragging myself away.