This whole comment could have started at the paragraph that begins, "Where am I going with this..." Instead, you took time to criticize a community as a whole based on some interactions you've had with a few. You write, I find it hard to read something like this that paints an entire community as the types of people that only pay lip service to civility, only days after the founder of this site invited you to join him and others for dinner. You've been welcomed by many, many people here. I dare say, you'd not receive a more open armed welcome to a community. What you do after that welcome is in your hands. However, it's not lost on me that Hubski can be intimidating. In fact, some of the smartest people I know have said as much to me. That's something we could work on from a new user on-boarding standpoint, but once people engage the community, it's been my experience that hubskiers are VERY embracing. It's pretty awesome really.Next comes the hard part. The people here are, on the whole, not so bad. I've had arguments with practically everybody here and the majority of the time I was the source of any deucery. But there is no patience here for differing opinions. Lip service is indeed paid to the idea of tolerance, but any dissent is punished with condescending sarcasm. This becomes almost omnipresent when dealing with any speech deemed unfit by the "quality" standards of Hubski. These standards are enforced with rigor by people hiding snark under the guise of keeping to an arbitrary level of quality.
-cite examples please. I'd like to see where I've been snarky towards you, where anyone outside of maybe two or three people have been? I saw a discourse on here between you and elizabeth where she ever so gently suggested you take a look at yourself and it literally couldn't have been put in a kinder way. I think you might want to take her advice. any dissent is punished with condescending sarcasm.
I for one welcome dissenting opinions, I don't welcome stupid ones. Any interaction where I leave it knowing MORE than I did prior to entering it is a win. The times when I get to say, "you know what, you're right about that and I'm wrong," are the moments where I as a person grow. So, dissent is the foundation of a thoughtful community. Again, I'd challenge you to cite examples.
There is a specific set of people who I feel that that applies to. You aren't a member of that set. I'm not naming names because this is already douchy enough. Plenty of people here aren't like that, but the problem with a small community is that a couple people can dominate the conversation. That paragraph was directed at those people in particular. I'm sorry I've painted you with the same brush. You and many other people here have been nothing but good to me. Hubski is an intimidating place, and that, in my mind, is one of the reasons.