From my experience you need to come and chat to people. I've made many many good friends as a result of this community. If you don't act all shy and unapproachable then more people will chat. Bear in mind most people are always a bit shy when they first meet, unless they have a really outgoing personality anyway.
Best foot forward, introduce yourself and have a chat.
I can sometimes appear a bit busy, but its not through ignorance. Its genuinely because i've usually got my mind on a few things to do with the organisation.
But don't be afraid to come up and grab me and have a chat.
You get out exactly what you put in ... i've always been made welcome and if needed i've gone out of my way to make myself welcome, i know when some people do 'events' they go as friends and who just happen to be on a forum, sometimes an 'outsider' might not be included - c'est la vie, certainly not something i'd lose any sleep over.
I think SCN has always been seen as more of a technical
resource, sometimes people don't see the social side of it as much because it's not all over every part of the forum although it's there in the background, you just have to take the time to look - time and a place and all that.
I will be honest, when i first bought the Leon 18 months or so ago I joined both SEAT sites and at first glance, the other one seemed more sociable - then again a certain someone did his level best to portray 'here' as the devils work, full of rules and beaurocracy which in actual fact was that sites own downfall whilst SCN kept going exactly as it was.
I saw a lot of stone throwing over those early months, i didn't believe that one person could be solely responsible for ALL of it, in the end that's exactly what the situation was. when SCC went belly side up I had no problems here and have no problems elsewhere. The only thing which saddens me is that one bloke managed to singlehandedly split a community of SEAT owners right at the time when they should have been sticking together.
If i find people to be cliquey, i just leave them to it and go my own way, it's their loss and not my
problem - i've not found that with anyone i've met here or there. I do think people have a lot of pride in being a part of SCN, perhaps that can come over as slightly elitist which could be misinterpreted as being cliquey ( the old chestnut,"i've not got a cupra so i won't be welcome etc). Ultimately everyone is different and will do things their own way, even though we all drive cars made by the same manufacturer it doesn't always provide enough common ground to start a conversation
Ps - is this really
Mk1 Leon related
- i'll get me coat