Marci (is that right?)
I enjoy your posts and hope you plan to stick around. 
I've been here since the end of 2005 officially and was a reader before that. Prior to YT, I have never belonged to any forum. So I had no experience.
Here are the things I have learned about YT.
YT rocks for many reasons: 
1. There are so many here that you never wait days for a response
2. Just think about Papi
3. Check out any RIP thread to see how great people are
4. Yorkie meetups
5. I could go on and on
People get rude and people get their feelings hurt:
Often I see people say things like, "when I first joined YT, it wasn't like this". Well, and I'm sure V will attest to this, threads just like this one have come up from time to time throughout YT's history. (maybe not in the VERY beginning). There have always been controversial threads where people get heated.
Choose the threads you read wisely. (that's all I'm going to say on that)
Monitor your posts. Keep in mind that the
tone of voice that you are using does not often translate, if in doubt, add lots of smileys.
I've seen threads go down hill quickly because someone used the wrong emoticon or none at all and everyone misread what they meant.
None of this is directed at OP, I think her posts are well done!!!!