Hmm. I have to say, I have been on a lot of forums, and there is always a bit of an "old guard" situation, where certain forum members are very highly respected. These guys are pillars of the community. They've earned friends, rivals, and the respect and loathing of numerous others. The situation we have here is hardly any different. You have to expect this sort of thing in a forum, or indeed any community. Someone who has been around for a while is going to have friends who will stick up for them. Some random newbie who just wandered in, probably won't.
That said, this is also one of the most noob-friendly forums I've been on. I've seen posts that... well, let me just say, if I'd seen them on most other forums the person would immediately have been pulverized by the level of bashing. If a person was honestly chased away by this forum... I don't know that they can survive just about anywhere on the internet, sombre or not. I would invite these people to think back carefully. We do have a few members who have no problem being rude whenever they feel like it. But we also always have members that will come in and stick up for the new guy, or just calmly and politely answer their questions. I can't imagine it's really as bad as all that.
Then again, I've been on the internet since I was 8, so maybe I'm unreasonably inured to general crustiness.
By the way, someone earlier said that sombre doesn't play any MP games... that's not true. He does play MP, usually small games with mod nations, primarily dominated by the IRC crowd. Ever see the scruntlefut or spumbum games? Doesn't really matter, but I'm the sort that likes to point out these things
