Not certain how serious this thread is (haven't read all of it) but it applies to me. I registered a couple of weeks ago after several years of lurking. Have only participated in one thread but hope to do more as time goes by. There are so many interesting threads and valuable news items that a guy could spend all day every day on FR, and of course that would have negative consequences on job and marriage. So I still lurk rather than actively posting.
I received several "welcome" responses to my initial post and had some good dialog with one Freeper who took the time to share his thoughts and experience (thanks again Chieftain).
My sense is that newcomers are welcomed cautiously, and I fully understand why. I have lurked long enough to realize that some people register just to make trouble and I would not expect long-time Freepers to open up to me as a newbie. Perhaps some feel that "cliques" are hard to break in to, but at the same time most of us want to be a bit selective in our interactions and we are looking for high-quality dialog and ideas. So I think newbies like me should expect a "probationary period" during our early days of posting.
FR is a tremendous resource and I am grateful to those who took the time to reply to me with even a one line "Welcome to FR".
That is the first step to recovery:)