Who knows how many lurkers look at this friendly, awesome atmosphere of the same handful of people-minuscule compared to the innumerable commenters most are used to on places like reddit- and think, "holy shit, these guys all know each other and are best friends. I have no business here, I'll just listen to what they're taking about."

I know this might come out badly but...here it goes.

That's kind of what makes amazing communities amazing. Other sites used to be like this. People would lurk forever, unsure if what they were saying wouldn't be up to par with the community standards. But when they finally joined in, it was usually about a subject or conversation that they really wanted to comment on. They spent a bit extra time perfecting this first comment. It usually started with "Long time lurker, first time poster" and off they went making a comprehensive and comprehendible comment on the subject.

So, I'm not sure this insecurity is inherently a bad thing. Because if you are hesitant to join in it means that (1) this community is awesome and (2) you are self aware enough to realize that you want to add to this community, not detract from it and (3) that will fact alone increases your chances of being a great part of the community and (4) the community will remain awesome.

The past problems we've had with influxes of new users result in massive amounts of #askhubski posts about reddit and general trolling and circlejerky behavior. I can guarentee these people did not have insecurities about whether or not their comments were up to par.

That said, I never want Hubski to be too unwelcoming or exclusive. People shouldn't be deathly scared of joining us because we are all really nice people and really just want more amazing people to have discussions with. The more the merrier, IMO.