quote:Originally posted by lleechef
As an "old poster" here, I have no problem with the current old membership rolls. Maybe a lot of these people read the info here but do not post.
About new posters......wow, I can remember very few times when we bashed a newbie.....and that was because of rudeness, inconsideration and just plain being mean. We encourage new people to post! And while you're at it, go to a Maryland Crab Fest or a Memphis BBQ Fest or any of the other Roadfood get-togethers.....we're quite a happy bunch of roadfood-loving folks!
We have made many, many friends from this website, some we've met and some we haven't yet. We look forward to meeting a lot of other Roadfooders!
I got slammed aroung pretty good when I first started posting. Twice I unbookmarked the site and cleared it from my history, but found a need to come back and post. It took a serious commitment to become established here... and I did absolutely nothing rude inconsiderate, or mean. I was just new.
To this day I think posting on this forum is not for the faint hearted. I think that is at least in part due to the iconoclastic nature of the topic, "Roadfood": it elevates something many see as common (inexpensive proletariat dining), yet also rejects that which is most common (fast food). This in turn attracts both members who are passionate about toeing the thin line, people who usually argumentative by nature; and those who don't see what the big deal is, people who are more relaxed by nature. These groups will inevitably not get along. Try discussing the latest Ashlee Simpson release with the spike haired kids holding the skateboards, listening to CKY.
Likewise, try showing up with your own skateboard; it will take awhile before these passionate people accept you as one worth knowing. Having a skateboard and an opinion (or registering and writing) doesn't make you "in" with this group of iconoclasts who are used to not trusting the mainstream, and posting about your favorite haunts and dives doesn't gain you membership either. You can stand next to them, but the best you can hope for, until you are trusted, is that you can share the mall without getting into a fight. And those Ashlee Simpson people? Well, I'm sure the skateboarders don't mind hurling a few insults across the food court every now and then. Heck, the Simpson fans might even call over mall security every now and then, complain about those kids and their outrageous antics! The mall isn't safe or fun anymore, for someone who just wants to sit and listen to The Eagles whilst enjoying a Big Mac!
That's not to say that, if you love CKY and MXPX and all that stuff, the skaters are the place to go; just like, if you want to know Roadfood, here is the place to be. But you'd better take the time and effort to understand the passion of some of the people who come with the scene, or you'll beturned off by it. That's why we can carry the mall analogy one step further; you have the kids with the boards and the passion; you have the MOR lovers bopping to the muzak; and you have the thousands of shoppers walking past every day, silently watching and deciding and choosing, without participating.
