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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AntiStateQuixote" data-source="post: 2288615" data-attributes="member: 30770">First, an apology: this is long and not necessarily interesting, but I started typing and just wouldn't stop.  So, stop reading now unless you want to hear me babble about elitism/group acceptance.  Ah, I did misread . . . somewhat.  You only indicated you are less likely to reply to someone that has a low post count, not that you don't read what they say.  Cool.  That's not exactly what I said . . . but it is close.  Basically, anytime someone posts to a message board they are attempting to evoke some response.  That's the beauty of message boards: we all get to have our say . . . and we prefer it if our say evokes a response because that's the only way we know anyone read what we had to say. If a person with a low post count evokes few or no responses then that person is likely to feel that s/he is being ignored by the community that s/he is trying to join.  S/he may believe that s/he is ignored because the people on that board are elitists who do not pay attention to new members or people with low post counts.  This is especially so when the n00b sees that people reply a great deal to the members with high post counts. Of course, long-term members with high post counts are likely to know other long-term members with high posts counts.  So, you respond to your friends/acquaintances more often.  It's only natural. Is it reasonable for the n00b to feel that people ignoring him/her are elitists?  Generally, probably yes.  You said yourself that low post count is a factor (not the only factor) in deciding if you will respond to someone.  I'm sure others do and feel the same.  Does that generalization apply to all people that choose not to reply to a n00b?  Not at all.  Does that actually make you (or anyone) an elitist?  Not really, but it's the n00b's perception that matters in this case.  If the n00b believes that s/he is being ignored because s/he is a n00b then the n00b may feel like the long-term members are elitists . . . and they are somewhat. Elitism is not necessarily a bad thing . . . it just has a screwy connotation in English (especially among Americans).  An elitist is one who believes s/he belongs to an elite group . . . that is, a superior part of society.  Even defined that way it sounds bad to most Americans.  Our egalitarian roots tell us that everyone is equal.  It's a simple fact that we are not all equal, and that some members of society (any society) are superior to others. Now, members of the EN World society who feel that they are part of the "in crowd" or "long-timers/veterans" or "high post count crowd" are, by definition, elitists.  They believe they are part of a select (superior/elite) group within the larger EN World society.  If they choose to respond more often to other members of the elite group and often ignore the n00bs then they are acting on their elitism in such a way that n00bs will notice.  Nicely said.  I think it's interesting that you are anticipating my "next move" as if we are involved in some sort of game/challenge/competition.  Isn't it cool how a simple exchange of words (you post, I reply, you reply) can so easily deteriorate into verbal combat?  I will admit that I purposely tried to provoke you previously.  Why?  Because I'm a n00b, and I want someone to listen to me!  But also I found what you were saying confirmed exactly what I already suspected . . . many EN World members don't respond to n00bs often because they are n00bs.  That's cool.  It seems natural, and your explanation of why you do so is reasonable I'm really not trying to debate or provoke now.  I just felt like this thread specifically referred to me and that I should reply.  Your previous post (not the one I'm replying to now) also hit home with me as you said yourself that you use post count as a measure (not the only measure) to determine if you should reply to someone.  I'm not saying that's a bad thing.  I am saying that it has the potential to be a bad thing from a n00b's point of view.  So, the post/reply/re-reply exchange is what makes messages boards so fun, and that's why everyone, especially a n00b, wants to get a response to their posts.  They want to know that their voices are heard, and the only way you know your voice is heard is if someone responds to you.  For a n00b a response indicates that someone is listening, and hopefully, that the n00b is being accepted into the community.  I'm glad to hear that . . . I think.  Hopefully I've been interesting.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh    :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" />  In closing, if you elitists don't respond to this post then I will know that none of you likes me and you don't want me to be a member of the EN World community. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /></blockquote>

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