I have both witnessed and experienced the aggressive "world" Elizabeth is referring to. At first I thought it was the only wiki "world that existed," but later on I also discovered other worlds that were the complete opposite. Ie, like little pockets that are hidden to any new person. The aggressive one I think is the first you see b/c people in it tend to be the loudest, right.

I tend to agree with Phoebe - your experience can be drastically different. I think this depends on "how" you get introduced. I know that for me, there were certain people that made it a point to always remind me that I was "not" a Wikipedian...Of course, there were plenty that embraced me AND were extra nice b/c they knew what was up. lolol.  However, since I got paid (and desperate b/c I was in Florida lololol), I had no other choice but deal with it. If I was a random internet user my reaction would have been "Dude, can you give me a freakin chance? And, if its going to be this hard, then I'll find another place to volunteer in. Damn!"

To be frank, my nerves were so "shot" and I was so burnt out that for YEARS I never mentioned wiki, thought about it, nothing! It was only last year that I began informally reconnecting with some peeps I missed. In fact, this year I wrote my FIRST article about my experience there for PBS. Ofcourse, it attracted TONS of anti-wikipedia trolls who had literally setup a thread where they were discussing what information they found of me, who my family was, where were they. (insert NY accent) ARE YOU KIDDIN ME RIGHT NOW!! lololol    My anxiety went back to "old skool" levels, and my reaction was "ofcourse...I should have known better. Serves me right for thinking that even on a professional space like PBS I would be safe." And my second thought was "I'm too f@#*! old to deal with this crap...I got like real life stuff to worry about." And forget explaining the editors why I wasn't responding.....I tried a bit, and I think they thought i was a bit off my rocker. LOLOL

Honestly, even being on this email list, I'm a bit on edge. LOL However, I think its a SHAME that a project as freakin awesome as this one should have this issue. And again, its not just women, its non-alpha men, its US latinos, its african-americans (i only know USA) that I feel are alienated as well. And I agree - Wikipedia is awesome in that when it does clearly see a problem, the community does bring change. I've seen it, and that is its charm, and why I am so enamored with it...b/c at the end of the day, the community as a whole does uphold what I consider very "progressive" ethics.