Is there elitism present on Fluther?

That shit is everywhere, my friend.
But it’s really not as bad as you may think.

PS Stop exacerbating the situation.
[Hands Blondesjon a beer.]
Better? That usually solves most stuff for me.

Not that I’ve ever seen. On the contrary, it’s always seemed to me like each person has retained their own individualities and preserved their unique personalities and I think this is what keeps Fluther so fun, interesting, and appealing.

There may (or may not be) longtime members here who are good friends and follow each others activity regarding Q&A but I wouldn’t attribute that to elitism or cliques or distinctive groups.

so this isn’t an anti-grammar question? whew! cool.

on an actually answering the question note, i felt kind of left out too when i first joined. i was afraid everyone else didn’t like me or something and they all had their inside jokes and they all knew each other and i didn’t know what was going on. (plus i remember being really intimidated that everyone seemed to have more than a thousand lurve.) then i answered a loooooooooooooooot of questions, and I had more than a thousand lurve too! hey!

just because you don’t know everyone yet doesn’t mean that there are cliques or that they won’t let you join or something. there are no cliques, i promise. if you stay here a while (which i hope you do) you’ll get to know other users better, and you’ll feel more comfortable.

Obviously, people that have been interacting with each other for some time will have a familiarity. This could be perceived as clique type behavior, but I don’t think that’s intentional, I think it’s that comfortable banter that you develop with friends. From what I’ve experienced, most everyone is welcoming and gracious. I think you have to “earn your lurve”. You can’t just expect to show up and have everyone fawn all over you, nor should you expect everyone to agree with you all the time. it’s a Q&A site; give good Q&A. If you’re not an ass (and I don’t think you are!), you’ll feel at home in no time at all.

Like Nimis said, that shit is everywhere.

I also agree with chica and bythebay, I think the majority of the perceived cliquishness is from a certain amount of newcomer anxiety.

Relax, answer some questions and be our friend. :)

@Fluther,...Peace my friends, peace. I love the fact that I have come across as an insecure newb, but the truth of the matter is I am facinated by ‘communities’ on the net. With this being a decididly more ‘learned’ group, experience has taught me that, acknowledged or not, elitism is more prevalent.

There is elitism present on every Internet forum. In its quintessential form it’s newbies vs. oldbies.

@blondesjon, do you mean grammar correction? do you mean redirection of very young jellies who ask whether someone loves them or not? do you mean people making inside jokes within areas of expertise you (and, uh, I) don’t know anything about? what
is the elitism you notice?

Oh no: Kevbo is crafting a response and he looks angry in his avatar…

The only consistent star belly behavior that I’ve seen is pinko lefties crowding out red-blooded righties and the spelling and grammar thing (which is really fun when someone who is dyslexic or an ESL’er signs up).

p.s. my anger is for YOU bythebay. i just don’t like you… (hee hee!)

Oh dear. He is angry!

… and sunburned. Always.

okay the liberal thing is true. i lean to the left, and i’ll admit it. our views do tend to overshadow, but it seems like since the election is over that’s died down quite a bit.

<—- pouting because Kevbo is a mean, mean, jelly

@susanc…just trying to throw something out there that gets some hits

You feel that sting, btb? That’s pride f—king with you.

No wait, that’s me.

(Okay, Michael Scott moment- “sting”” because I’m a jellyfish and then the line from Pulp Fiction.)

Oh no Kevbo, don’t try to make up with me now…
Forget it, we’re through..I’m over it, I’ve moved on to softer, kinder and less sunburned jelly friends.

Play nice, children, or I’ll sell you to the gypsies for whiskey.

is “gypsies” a politically correct term? teeheehee

Ok…

Maybe…for now…

@alfredaprufrock…only offensive to those of us that still travel by caravan…

Would that be of the used Dodge variety?

Are you thinking elitism like the chat room that you have to ask John Powell for access to? I think of it as Fluther’s own version liberal version of Skull and Bones…

@alfredaprufrock…first rule of Fluther chat room is you don’t talk about Fluther chat room…

I know, now you’ll have to kill me…

Is elitism the same as 1337ism?

Whoa… I don’t really have anything to do with the chat room. Allie, PnL, Shilolo, and many others can give you a link.

And people are down with sharing inside jokes. pancake

<spooge>

@alfreda & blondie: yes it’s un-pc. I’ll send you a reference one of these days.
Or, you could start with a stunningly interesting book about sedentary Roma in Albania,
Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca.

Fluther seems to be a pretty good example of a well-functioning meritocracy. I’ve been here long enough now to observe that anyone who shows up here armed with decent interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate effectively and knowledge to contribute will blend pretty effortlessly with the group from the beginning.

Going all the way back to the Greek rhetoricians, it’s been observed that the more someone contributes positively to discussion within a community, the more he establishes a sound ethos (the Greek equivalent of “cred”) and the more readily his ideas are accepted, so there is some deference accorded to the hoary sages of the community, but I don’t think that’s either peculiar or unhealthy.

@Harp: Word.

yes

Cliques and such are inevitable and tacitly expected. Why would Fluther be any different than college, the office, or anyplace like that? People are people, there will be people they like better for the reasons the mesh better. Those they like they will award or Atta boy better and more often. Those they don’t, they will ignore, boycott, etc. on a regular basic. If you are in a club and you are part of the ”in crowd” your ideals about the fund raiser will get more traction than someone who is on the ”outs” even if their ideal is more stable and would glean more money from the intended customer base. Those you feel are friends you are more likely not to try and anger so you will be more respectful and open to. Those on the outside you care less for, you have no personal time and emotion invested in them; if they get angry, they just get angry; you lost little if anything at all. I don’t know if any of the cliques would think themselves elitist but as a micro collective I believe they think their ideas or more pertinent than those not apart of that croup.