digorykirk,
I was strongly tempted to sympathize with you when I read your OP, for I too have had my difficulties in this forum, but I must admit that when I looked at the thread you seemed to be talking about,
http://cslewis.drzeus.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8265
I was hard pressed to see much cause for your reaction. Maybe you can point it out to me, so that I can see it more clearly.
By now you have seen that one of the things that does appear to be different about this forum is that it is much more like a close knit community and so you will not be able to pick anybody off without others coming to their defense, regardless of the fact that their opinions on many things are quite diverse. This can create the feeling of being an outsider or being ganged up on, and in response to my own complaints about this I was strongly encouraged to participate more in the community aspect of the forum. In any case, learning how to communicate effectively in different groups, accomodating their own unique characteristics, is one of the more exciting challenges in going to different forums. In any case, let me offer you my welcome, for my part.
Mitchell.