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Originally Posted by cybermike
I figure this will get a few people clicking this thread expecting to read something about how the internet knows everything about you. Well it does but that's not what this thread is really about. I remember first accessing the internet. If you wanted to know something you'd hit up a chatroom via one of the crappy browser chatrooms or IRC. Doing this you'd meet a ton of people. You'd break the ice by them helping you with your problem, or you helping them with theirs, You'd solve your problem and when you came back, you could discuss your solution. Heck, That's all it took to meet a friend. Today, If you ask a question on a forum your first reply will be "google it" and the second reply will be a link to the first result of a google search by someone that did google it. You've got no connection to either of these people. They're the extra step in the chain to getting information. The internet has killed one of my favorite forms of meeting people!
Bleh.. I dunno.. Maybe I'm jaded...
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Perhaps you're visiting the wrong forums. I've found that every forum has it's own idiosyncrasies, some of them are very open while others are very closed. Some are laid back, friendly places, while others are cut-throat, rude and filled to the brim with sarcasm and dry wit. Being a car guy I mostly visit car forums and generally speaking they're as your first paragraph describes. You have a question, you ask and people help you out in a friendly manner. Sure you're going to get the dick head responses but you had that in IRC as well. In doing this I've met some great people, gone to some great car shows, and have learned more than I ever could imagine on my own. I don't want to say that this place is bad, because it's not, but there is an air of superiority with some of the regulars that I think can drive new people away. Perhaps if the places you're visiting aren't to your liking it's time to branch out and find new "homes". I know I've left a few forums because I've felt I had gotten as much as I could from them.
Or maybe you're just jaded.