One thing I think causes this is the reluctance of many to give advice to a newbie. I can't say that I've seen it here, but have on plenty of other hunting forums, where a person registers and has only a few posts and asks hunting advice about some state or area. The reaction ranges from ignoring the poster to open hostility. Again, not saying this happens here (I'd say it's common elsewhere though), but there are surely many who come over from other sites who have experienced (or at least seen) such behavior, and want to establish some credibility and name recognition before they start asking questions. This probably leads to a certain amount of chatter as people attempt to establish a presence on the forum. That said, I don't know what you can do about it.