i've since learnt it seems forum newbies are generally ignored, regardless of a requested introductory post
hell one forum i joined, it took me 2yrs before the establishment finally replied to my posts - regardless of the fact the forum owners were/are close friends of mine
i've since left that forum
as for the forums like TFP that do have an 'Introduction' thread, considering online communication can impersonal as an automatically generated email, the Introduction thread is a waste of bandwidth - to me - given those that DO introduce themselves as i did, newbies are only generally ignored anyway
granted forums generally have a vast number of members, getting to know newbies can be somewhat difficult, however,
intentional ignorance of those newbies who do take the time to introduce themselves is hardly encouraging to participate more actively
given the whole idea of a forum in the first place is also to voice yer own thoughts, ideas and/or interpretation of something posted in a
civil manner, it's hardly civil when one's dissenting personal belief is shot down in flames purely because the newbie may have offended regular members simply by disagreeing with someone is it