[Valg]

Correlation doesn't imply causation. Specifically, one could argue that text MUDs became popular despite the oft-crude Internet subculture and how it tends to treat newcomers (*), if large enough numbers of people were checking the games out. It's fairly common to see veteran MUDers trying to 'haze' new ones unless the atmosphere is actively coached to reduce it.

1) The major difference is that a newcomer to the site has a much lower barrier to simply leaving and not returning. They aren't invested (socially, not necessarily financially, though that may also be the case) in the hobby.

2) The low-effort solution is just to ignore posts from newcomers that you don't feel like answering politely. Xerihae (or anyone) isn't advocating that you must do something. People are advocating that you don't actively do something which may be negative.

3) Whether or not you mean well is irrelevant and subjective. How you are perceived matters. What is "feeble" to you may just be someone who doesn't understand the community standards.

4) I agree that Steve was likely trolling, though obviously only he really knows. The goal of the troll is negative attention, and ignoring them is much more effective than engaging them.

(*): As an aside, I'd advocate this as the default term for new visitors to the site, and renaming the appropriate forum. Kudos to Parnassus and Brody for mentioning it. "Newbie" isn't necessarily derogatory, but it can have that connotation, and I can see how it would be alienating. We're guilty of this on CF as well, and upon reflection I'll see what I can do to change this.