You're very right, especially about that last comment about the IRC.
Personally, I have friends ranging through the whole spectrum from new guys or people who don't speak english too well to some people in high places.
Something I want to add, most people who speak English as a second language and don't speak it too well, are generally less popular on the forums because people automatically dismiss them. Just for an example, the co leader of my clan, EeE33, doesn't speak great english, but he's a great guy, very mature, and he's a loyal clan member.
To be honest, when I was first starting I was alot nicer, I'm still pretty nice. Substantially nicer than alot of other people I know. But I'm not so much any more in public. I've adapted to the ways to start gaining popularity from the people who matter, and disregarding what the decent and nice people think of me. Although not intentional, it has happened.
It's nice to see someone in your position who has a decently substantial influence over some of the elitist people you're talking about to post a thread like this. And that picture is pretty close to reality, meaning that alot of the elitist people have a very different social life and personality away from the internet in real life.
tl;dr: Although a certain join date doesn't really prove that you're cool/great/whatever, most people who have been around for a while are likable and smart, and this is rarer with newer members.
This is also true. A lot of the people who are still around from early 2008 or 2007 or maybe even 2006 are alot of the time decent people. It might have something to do with dedication or something that filters out the dislikable people through time.
I'm just gonna list some old schoolers who are really decent poeple:
steve
SlipAnc
CMon
hanz0
Delaid
Gman
avwave
Hamster
Blam
Notice that most of the Admins are nice. You can get power/popularity with elitist attitude up to a point.
And more to come when I remember them.
Last edited by Nathan; Jan 23, 2010 at 05:00 AM.