It's probably because of a few reasons...

1. We ran heavily on an Elitist hierarchy in our early years and our reputation hasn't changed because once you go in and find things you don't like, there is no real reason to go back. rolleyes

2. It's like comparing an art critic to an average person... They don't like the idea that we have a system for what we consider is a good looking avatar... And that we apply our knowledge in both our rates and our avatars... They feel left out of the loop.

3. They dress like crap and we don't bow down and worship them for that... Few people like to be criticized for something they worked hard on... We being a dynamic forum, do.

4. They do not tend to get the kind of attention older ATers get.

5. There ARE the few people who scope out newbies and rate them in a very unhelpful way.

6. And then there's always the whole, "they have lots of items so they must have more gold then me and because they have more gold than me they must be elite."