This started out as a comment I was composing for this post by Meriadoc in response to this comment by _refugee_

Many of our older users will recall the huge influx of circlejerkers that came over from reddit last December. It was amazing how many came over and how destructive some of them were. They were attempting to turn Hubski in to their version of reddit. It was a challenging time, but somewhat exciting too. Rather quickly, what happened is that they got bored and left. Some of them were great from the get-go and stuck around and our community grew and received some of my favorite hubskiers to date. -flagamuffin (I think), BLOB_CASTLE, and ButterflyEffect all come to mind. My point is, the group we have right now that just came over is WAY more civil and seems genuinely interested in knowing more about Hubski. How do you find out more about the new place you are at? You ask questions, thus the huge influx of #askhubski posts. Take in to consideration that the link on reddit was an askreddit post and it's no surprise that the new users are using the tag often. -This happened last december too and it will subside.

steve, ecib, cgod, b_b, insomniasexx, lil, theadvancedapes, mk and many others can attest that this has indeed happened before and that it will eventually become more stable and hopefully, the site will be better for it.

As for yours and others suggestion that people can't submit a post until they have a full hubwheel from comments isn't going to work. Some of my favorite hubskiers never or rarely comment. scrimetime posts some of my favorite links to the site but almost never comments. My suggestion is to use the tools we have in place. -Prior to last december I ignored nobody, after the influx I was ignoring 119 users. It took a little time, but it worked.

At the same time though, I wouldn't be too quick to "ignore." Many people will start by asking questions like "why is hubski better than reddit..." etc. It's natural to kick the tires, to ask hey, why is this place so great? and to behave in accordance from where you came. It takes time to assimilate, but have faith that with some help, guidance and time people will realize that this is Hubski and it is it's own thing.

So go forth and shephard these newbies, we were all once new to the site, myself included and it can be a bit overwhelming at first. Trust that most of the new people have only the best intentions.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature

-It has been my experience that when you let them, people will exceed your expectations.

This post is meant to quell the anxiety of long time users regarding the latest influx. I for one am encouraged by the new users behaviors and would like to take this opportunity to welcome them.