I see a whole lot of people bitching and whining about how the new users are taking all the piss out of Dtoid. This is how it has been since I came on to the site in the first place. And you know what? I suspect it's been going on a lot longer than that.

People have a complex about seniority where a site like this is concerned. It's like finding out about a great bar that nobody knows exists but becomes popular a few months after you become a regular. Do you like all of the people who are now coming in to a place that you feel a personal attachment to? Of course not. The difference is that, on the internet, you don't have to walk up to that fratboy/hipster/gangsta/whatever and say to their face that they don't belong here and that they're ruining the experience for you. It's fucking wrong and, to be honest, I'm a little ashamed of the attitudes that some people are expressing. It shouldn't be about the length of their tenure, but the quality of their contributions

By the same token, the new users can be a bit annoying sometimes. I understand and even agree with that. If they don't understand the way the memes work, they'll figure it out and/or they'll leave. The ones who stick around will probably be the sort of people who will fit in well with the site.

Memes are usually stupid, but they're fun for people and can be a great way to foster a spirit of unity within the site. We all have in-jokes amongst our friends and that's what Dtoid users are. We're friends. I can relate to the frustration which results from a post on which hours were spent being shoved of the first page in a matter of half an hour because of a running gag. But when's the last time someone got bitched out for reposting a high quality cblog at a time when things have died down?

That's what we should be encouraging people to do. And it's something you guys can help with, too. If it's a meme-heavy day, why not drop a comment on some poor schmoe who got caught in the crossfire suggesting that they might want to repost it because it was good work and you don't want it to be overlooked? We can either complain or we can work together as a community to find solutions to these things. Up to you guys, really.

In the future, there will be a community-moderated system for the cblogs and functionality to ignore the blogs of people whom you don't want to read the posts of. That stuff is coming down the pipe as quickly as we can get them in, so you'll have further options in the future. But, for the time being, I'm sure we can all come up with ideas on how we can help users, both old and new, be respectful of one another and still have a good time on Dtoid.