...but then, you're often of the mindset that options are mandates.

Back in the halcyon days of PHPbbs and forums without voting, it was assumed that lurking was expected behavior. One didn't stumble into a new forum and start out with HEY GUISE NICE CITE WATS UP, one lurked, read the faq, browsed the threads and opined only when one had something to contribute. Then, of course, /b/ won over /. and we ended up with a "digg this" mentality. And now here we are.

I never had a Digg account. I browsed it for a week. I browsed Reddit for a month before I had an account and lurked for another month before I posted my first comment. I recognize this makes me positively deviant by today's standards, but the comments you're talking about say, essentially, "that would hurt my feelings."

Here's the thing: If I think you'd be better served by sitting down and reading for a while before you contribute, and you think you'd be better served by contributing before you sit down and read, allowing me to ignore your ass for a week serves both our purposes:

- I don't have to deal with your "HEY GUISE WHOS ALSO FROM TEH REDDITS" phase

- You don't have to deal with my "GET OFF MY LAWN NEWFAG" phase

...and (x) number of days later, we can converse like civil people.