[Brody]

There's only one thing wrong with your reconstruction of this specific situation, though: That's not at all how it happened. If we had a post from a newbie who had exhausted every avenue before posting, I don't think it would have been received in quite the same way. Instead, it went something more like this:

1) Newbie wants to play a MUD. Posts a vague how-do-I-do-it question on TMS.
2) Newbie doesn't get an immediate response. Posts a bit of a whine about that.
3) Newbie still doesn't get an immediate response. Posts ANOTHER complaint.
4) Brody (neither good nor bad, just Brody) happens upon the thread. Yeah, Brody's a tad irritated by the impatient textual jumping up and down of said newbie, but Brody doesn't unload on the guy. Brody first tries to explain the local standards a bit, just in case the newbie hasn't really used forums much before. And then Brody suggests Googling for the MUD website.
5) Newbie makes a post suggesting the Brody post isn't helpful.
6) Brody, so far the only person even trying to help the newbie, reiterates that he's trying to help.
7) Newbie calls Brody a jerkoff.
8) Brody, despite being called a jerkoff, investigates the MUD website and determines that said MUD appears to be broken or, at the very least, has bad information on its main site.
9) Some people post to say it's wrong to call Brody a jerkoff.
10) Some people post to say it's true, Brody's a jerk.
11) Thread is off the rails.

I don't care much for the suggestion that all sweetness and congeniality must flow first from us. It may sound a little snobbish, but I don't react well to people who are clearly 1) impatient and 2) rude about their impatience, as if they're entitled to something from a total stranger just for existing.

It goes both ways.