Welcoming new guys on the forum ....

[Lizardlicks]

Personally I think it's more of an age difference. There are a lot of young people who frequent this forum and I think younger people tend to be more passionate about their viewpoints and will defend them more strongly.

Possibly a little of both. In one of your (Zincubus') posts, you offered feeding advice, but the suggestions where not very applicable to things available in the US (chicks are not overly available here in general and would have been too big for the snake in question besides, and african soft furred rats, which you referred to as multies, and I don't think anyone new what the hell you were talking about, because that's a shortened version of a name they're called in the UK, so regional dialect PLUS slang equals ???huh??? Those would have been a better option, but can ALSO be hard to get a hold of in the US as some states have banned them outright.) In addition, you were very, erm, condescending, although perhaps without meaning to be, about referring to ball pythons and royal pythons being some how superior. I don't think you meant it like that, just as stating a personal preference, but other people were rightly at the very least amused by what looked like some sort of status claim on a regional dialect of all things, and responded flippantly as such.

Further, new members have yet to build any reputation, or establish a personality, and so their words will not be given the same weight as long term posters nor can they be filtered through a learned "this person likes to respond this way" type of trained processing. I've only been here about a month, and already I've seen at least 3 instances of new members who are also new pet owners trying to offer 'advice', get told their advice does not apply universally or would in fact be detrimental to a situation by a more experienced keeper, get angry/in an argument with the person, then abandon the site. If that's has happened so often in just the short amount of time I've been here, imagine how often it happens in a year. In three. In the ENTIRE TIME the site has been up and running. Now you can start to get the picture of why veterans tend to be a little dismissive, they're used to the pattern by now.

My best advice, sitting back and observing is a GOOD thing for new members, but especially when you know you're on the spectrum and are basically stepping into a completely different social sphere. The protocols you are used to may not apply, and an adjustment period of quiet observation and learning is highly recommended.