This is the exact thing that drives people who have been here crazy.
GC has been around for almost 8 years. Why should it change for the people who have been here 8 days?
No, I don't think there should be stages, and I do think that first time posters can have valid ideas, but it's up to them to learn the atmosphere/posting style (which is NOT 13 year old AOL chat-speak) before they post or, yes, they will get their ass handed to them. There is a reason why new posters are treated the way they are - they are paying for the sins of the trolls who came before them. Right or wrong, it's probably not going to change.
People here take themselves too seriously. And, they especially take other posters here too seriously. To quote another GCer (who I can't think of off the top of my head): If someone is snarky to you, take a look at their past posts, chances are, you're not special. I'm sorry if people can't tell that I'm being sarcastic 90% of the time. I would think MysticCat's quote (which BY THE WAY, I used with permission
) in my signature would help a little.
As for people perciving your post as a personal attack, since I'm the person you're talking about, I'll go ahead and say MODS, I don't care if you leave this post up. It doesn't bother me in the least. I'm sure, skylark, you'll get a bunch of PMs saying "Yeah, there's a bunch of mean, nasty girls on here, I'm glad you're nice". (Feel free to share with us how many you get, that's always entertaining.) It's a messageboard. To quote another GCer, "It's not Happy Pony Rainbow Land". Most of us who have been around are straight-up and don't sugarcoat.