I realize that my comment is negative. It is also honest.

It is not my job to be yanyone's cheerleader. I am not on Hubski so I can smile, pretend I think things are going great, and make everyone feel like a warm fuzzy bunny. I am on Hubski to think and to talk. If I can't be honest about how I feel about Hubski while on Hubski, what's the damn point?

I admit at the bottom of my post that there are new users that look like they might be good here. I admit at the top of it that it's negative. I am aware that I am being a pessimist in this situation.

Hubski has been around for nearly three years, natch. Yes, it's relatively young compared to, let's say, 4chan, but I think users are confusing "new to me" with "new in general." You're not a bad guy. It's just an annoying choice of semantics.

I am inviting you, and anyone else, to defy my expectations. I know that I need to sit back and wait and see how it's going and I am trying very hard to do so. I know that once upon a time I was a new user at this website and yes, I did even come in on a wave of users (I think). Before that I was a new user at Reddit; I came over at the fall of Digg. My username is not picked by chance or whimsy. This also means that when I came over to Reddit, I saw tons of comments like this. It made me curious as to what the site was like beforehand, and, as I expect will be the case here, I loved what I saw, became a member of the community, and thought it was great. It was only over the course of three years at Reddit that I began to be able to see the decline of the community. You have to be here beforehand to see the impact. And what's also true is that when you are there beforehand, you are probably going to be resistant to change, even if that change eventually turns to be for the better.

My perspective is biased, flawed, and I acknowledge these things. I'm generally a pessimist and I've also seen the way this goes for other websites. Moreover, as a person and as a contributer to this website, my perspective is valued (admittedly, probably only by some) precisely because it is biased and flawed. That is the nature of having a personality.

Don't be careful. Don't mind me. I would ask that you try to use this site with respect but then I come across like I am taking this website far too seriously: it is only a website, after all.

I think the most valuable thing to remember when using Hubski is that the whole point of Hubski is fostering intelligent, thoughful discussion. That's what the two of us are doing right here and now. In that way, it's great. Don't take my comments personally. They are just my thoughts and they're not aimed at anyone in particular.

As for Kafke, I've got my eye on you. You seem pretty cool. And zonk, I'll keep an eye out for you and see what you're doing as well. Please. Defy my expectations. I'm just often used to people merely living up to them.