Literally every single slap fight I've had with new Reddit refugees has been "old makes way to the new" "but it's the old that attracted you here" "but I'm new and therefore better and therefore STFU." You remember how much blood and treasure was squandered over muting? As it turned out mk rolled out the feature I wanted, exactly as I wanted it. Go to "settings". "Filter users less than 2 days old." OMFG it improves your experience. Gives them a chance to get their sea legs and it gives me a respite from watching them orient themselves to a culture not built on pandering and flame wars.
I think part of the issue is volume. Say there are 20 active members who essentially guide the disucssion, mood, community feel, etc, of the general site. If you get 50 new members, even if each of them only sticks his or her foot in his mouth once, all of a sudden the whole pool is looking really, really shitty. I will be honest that the waves of new users in the past few weeks has driven me more away from Hubski than otherwise. I am sad about it, and it is not because I do not like people in general or as a whole. But I'm not here to chill with new users, I'm not here to watch people fall for bait, I'm not here to hold hands and share fluffy bunnies, I'm not here to pretend or put on a friendly mask. What's most unfortunate to me is that I feel driven out, instead of that I should and can defend my territory. I guess the other option's the pass of thermopolae? This, by the way, is why I'm so gung ho about a 30-day free trial and then, pony up your cash. If that would make a potential user decide not to join, I'm very, very fine with that.