Internet forums, any bad experiences?

[ThePigandPear]

I am referring to much smaller forums than mumsnet, such as special interest places where people keep one username throughout (hobby, etc)

I am a member of several and whilst I can't often post, I like to check in and catch up now and then. Making a post and constant chatting in a community takes time and effort, and since I like relaxing online I don't make posts often, but when I do, I am friendly and pretty benign.

I do notice that many people are there all day everyday, or so it seems. And they are always posting stuff, good lengthy posts, and constantly chatting with other members. Kind of like a big family sort of thing.
Anyhow, I popped in and said hi at one of my favourites recently and chatted a bit, and was surprised to get a few unpleasant responses, intimating that I was noncommittal to the site and somewhat aloof!
I thought it was a joke initially, but no. Sadly those unpleasant responses received a lot of likes. WTH?

Is this crabs in a bucket syndrome, or do some people have infinite energy to live online? I am a pretty heavy internet user but can't feed communities content all that often as I am busy with stuff.

Is this common, or not?
Not the end of my world by any stretch but kind of sad all the same.

I think it largely depends on people and number of active users in general. For example, Mumsnet has so many users that no one bats an eye when someone new posts on here. In fact, no one would even know if you're new here, but then there are relatively small forums with a more or less stable group of frequently seen users, so any new name would draw attention. If the forum isn't that popular, people might get suspicious about your intentions and think of you as a possible scammer trying to sell them something.

My advice would be to forget about it, people sometimes act hostile for no reason, but it's not about you, it's about them. Maybe they just like the elitist feeling of a closed society no one knows about, more power to them then, but you have every right to be there and use the forum.

I wouldn’t give it another thought. I once got banned from a fan site devoted to discussion of the works of a particular children’s author, not because I was in any way rude or behaved in an unpleasant way towards other users, but because I didn’t share the enthusiasm about a particular character, and because I pointed out that she wasn’t real and therefore didn’t do things ‘offstage’.

Had this happened offline when I decided to join a local camera club. I was laughed at because I mentioned Photoshop was too complicated and I used Photoworks instead. Apparently everyone was a highly sophisticated pro and I didn't fit in 😆I don't know who these people think they are but this is certainly NOT the way to gain your community some popularity.

I was more surprised by the length of time they have to devote to it, and not all retirees.

There's definitely a sense of it being a large-ish family, and on one of these forums they have been using it for 20 years, and yet I still can't get my head around the time spent doing it.
Just observing, I noticed the most vocal contingent are there in the early hours of the morning and still hovering about at night. Most dialogue is pretty meaningless too, so just jokes and nonsense chatter. It's not as if they are adding anything to the 'hobby' or interest of the forum, as new members who want to discuss the hobby get left flat. One wonders why it exists.