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I've just found this thread (I don't look in here very often, I'm afraid) and a lot of the comments resonated.
I'm a moderator on another forum (run by another magazine stable) and a lot of the comments here could have been lifted from that site: poor gallery, problems finding photos, lack of "management involvement", lack of interest in the forum shown by the magazine more or less ignoring it. I found that interesting.
I've visited a few forums, and they do differ a great deal. There's one where a new post is almost a red lettrer day; if moderators exist they are invisible; and the home page shows spam entries as a "hot topic". This forum certainly isn't like that.
Some forums are, I think, more welcoming than others. I have found that on one forum, you have to say the correct shibboleth to be accepted. (In case the word doesn't convey anything, it's in the Old Testament; knowing whether the word was shibboleth or sibboleth marked you out as friend or foe.)
It's quite true that we all have to start somewhere, and no-one knows everything when they first come to photography (nor will they know everything when they finally lay down their camera). What makes the difference is how the questions are treated, and how understanding people are.
I must pop over and introduce myself now...
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