I used to find the board quite cliquish as well, and that was a big turn off for me. I went years without posting because of it. Then one day I realized that I just didn't give a damn about any of it, and that I was going to start sharing my opinion even if a single person didn't care what I said. It seemed like for a long time I was largely ignored. But the more I posted, the more people perhaps took seriously what I had to say, and saw I had something to add around here. I'm sure there are people who would love to see me shut the hell up. But this is my favorite band damnit, and they aren't going to affect that in the least! I'm going to keep on posting here because I love Fleetwood Mac, and I love interacting with others who like the band.
If others don't like what I have to say, or don't like me personally... that's fine. That's their problem, not mine. I'm not out to make others happy here. I'm not here to be popular. If somebody doesn't like me, they can just ignore me. I'm simply on here to voice my opinions, and read others. I hope to disperse some knowledge, and hope even more to gain some.
If somebody were to attack me personally, I'd see that as a weakness on their part. Why? Because it's so easy to attack somebody personally. The tougher thing to do is to dispute opinions and differences through logic and reason and facts. It chafes a certain group of people's asses that I like Stevie Nicks. They try to throw personal insults at her and try to degrade me to make their points clear. The thing they don't realize, is they make their points perfectly clear: they're intellectually weak, and can't have carry out a dispute using purely factual evidence. They have to make it personal. So when other people take cheap digs at you Dave, remember they're simply showing their own inherent weakness, and their own insecurities. They're the ones with far bigger problems to work on than you!