Was not referring to scam busters et al. Ja, they are actually a rather vital group of folks needed here to keep some semblance of sanity in the Forum.
I was referring to a few folks who I've come across that seem to think it is their mission in life to hunt down newbs and ridicule them vs trying to teach them the errors of their ways.
I guess this is what you get when you combine passion for a forum, various different personalities, and the ways of earning money from something you're passionate about. Unfortunately, this has led to a culture that is quite hostile to newbies, whether it's intentional or simply because users have become fed up with the amount of abusers, and account farmers on the forum, the result is the same; it scares away legitimate users.
At least, taking away from your other remarks, scares away a particular demographic; i.e usually of the older generation. Since, it appears that the internet in general is a toxic breeding ground, and when you sprinkle in a little bit of anonymity people usually say, and act more maliciously than they would in person. Social media has seemed to exaggerate this, and is common among the younger generations.
I've talked to it before, I like to give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible, but that's quite difficult at times, and while I don't completely blame those for automatically being suspicious of new users due to the nature of the forum, and well the nature of people themselves. I do wish we were a little more welcoming overall.
I touched upon this indirectly above, but I would like to put emphasis on this; I don't think this is a particularly toxic place when you compare it to other social medias, and other discussion forums, but rather it's due to the shift in culture, and the factor of being pseudonymous.
