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The thing is Pam, it is very difficult to 'look behind the posts' when posts are all we have to go on *smiles*
If you don't want to take a break from online interaction then you need to try and dial that interaction back a little. Online communities are just collections of people, they cannot be relied upon to react and respond in the way you want them to. Coming on 'too strong' and too fast can put people on their guard.
If you want to be a real part of this community we need to know more about you than your problems. We need to 'see' you as a person. Starting a bunch of threads that throw the spotlight onto you doesn't help us see you it just turns you into a performance. General interaction accross the board with involvement in different threads would probably allow people to get to know you a little better. It would also help you get to know us a little better.
You're right that some of us have been a little unkind, myself included. But the truth is that was only ever about you for the first day, after that the joke itself became a 'meme'. We are a community, therefore we are subject to trends and fashions, in-jokes and running jokes, factions and fomentation.
This means that if a joke hits, it will likely get picked up on by others and before you know it everyone is making the same joke all over the Cellar. This happens all the time. It's not usually at the expense of a member though.
As to why we would be suspicious of you: there are some people who enjoy causing trouble by presenting a fake persona and persuading others to buy into that persona. Starring Emma was a particularly extreme example of that and she has returned on more than one occasion with a different name and a new identity each time. One of the characteristic features of her approach was to blitz the Cellar with loads of new threads. Another was extensive use of private messages.
This is probably the main reason many of us thought you might be a 'troll', because some aspects of your entrance to the community felt very similar.
Since you are apparently sticking around, maybe let us see a little of you engaging with us on our terms. That is to say, involving yourself in other threads and maybe letting us get a glimpse of your likes and dislikes, your favourite movies, what you might be eating for dinner, or whether you like animals. But not by starting a new thread for these things. The Cellar is full of long running threads, some of whihc have been active for years, in which we get to know odd stuff about each other. It's the inconsequential details and thoughts on politics or the best place to go camping, or how that latest interview went that allow us all to get to know each other.
But like any friendship, these things take time to build. You cannot just magic up instant friendship and comfort with people who are essentially strangers. Nor can you blitz them with every detail and expect that this will suffice. These things take time to build and that's ok. There's fun in the building.
*smiles*
Take a chill pill m'dear. And don't take our teasing to heart. Chances are it's not based on anything you've actually done wrong, but rather that something you've done or said has sparked amusement and set off a 'meme' without you realising.
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