I discovered to my dismay that a lot of people who participate in these forums are sarcastic and miserable when they have to endure the naïve and ignorant questions of yet another "newbie." Not content with insulting people who visit the forums and post innocent questions, they also like to call out any examples of ignorance about China that come to their attention. For example, a visiting journalist expressed surprise at how far Western fashions, music, and culture has permeated a supposedly communist country. So he's just a "clueless twit."
I gave up on reading Dave's ESL Cafe for this reason, even though it's supposedly the pre-eminent ESL website on the internet. There's just too much negativity, crudeness and nastiness. I occasionally check out Raoul's China Saloon; it's a little friendlier but cynicism and pessimism still abound...