I do this as well, but I also come back to Pinside because just hanging out in an echo chamber of people who think exactly like me all the time gets a bit repetitive. I come here because I can get all kinds of info and discussion I can't get in the closed groups.

Do I wish some of the more vocal... people... would maybe go away? Sure. But it's not my site and I can't just ban those guys so I choose to gloss over them for the most part and take what I want from everyone else.

I choose to stay and try to contribute to add value to Pinside. If you just give up and go away, you're letting them win.

I would like to point out that this place is a lot more friendly to women than it used to be. Not quite as much frat bro "hur hur" crap and posts with lots of boobs.

So, there's been improvement.

I will totally say this in person to my friends!

But strangers, no.

You can't really apply that to all people in the hobby, for a variety of reasons...

That said, you get what you give and if you're a nice guy, people will generally be nice back. However, the "haters" will tend to hang out with other "haters" at shows and snark the shit out of people, games, etc. amongst themselves. The problem here is we're all grouped together in one melting pot, so you'll get personality conflicts you wouldn't get in person.