Pea Validations...Do YOU Pea?

I was led to this post on 2peas from a poster on Scrap Smack and I must say that if the responses in that thread are any indication of why there is a growing 'us against them' rift in the scrapbooking metropolis, then I don't know how much more proof a person would need. The opening poster posed the question of what the other peas think when they run across a person who is oblivious to the existence of 2 Peas in a Bucket.

Check it out: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2203073

As the poster on Scrap Smack stated, the inference is that you aren't 'in the know' or a REAL scrapbooker if you aren't a member of the 2Peas family.

*Personal preference? Phooey! Anyone who wants to get anywhere with their craft will Pea.
*Lack of access to the .net? Not an excuse! You can get your does of veggies from the library!
*Don't like the 'environment' there? Puleeeze! If you're a real scrapper, you'll feel at home!

I don't usually throw the 'p' word around, but today is the day! Pretentious! There! I said it.
I would like to know, exactly what vein of superiority people are drinking from that allows them to easily discount the validity of another scrapbooker simply because they don't choose to join a site. I don't care how popular the site is, as American Idol has shown us, the quality of your offerings don't matter much when you are buffered by drama fiends. That thread is one of the main reasons why I don't frequent 2peas outside of the occasional like track.

This isn't about 2peas. It's about the attitude of superiority. It's about the underlying tone of nonacceptance. It's about the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ostracizing of people who have the audacity to share your hobby but not your tastes. If I were a person new to the online scrapbooking world, that post would definitely NOT have propelled me into membership. Right from the word go I would've felt the pressure to assimilate or die trying. That post, however 'well intentioned' only served to highlight some of the reasons that people CHOOSE not to frequent the site. The way that people answered the question and justified their snobbery was downright embarrassing! There are hundreds of thousands of people who engage in the hobby, to devalue their work because they don't align their interests with what you deem to be important is just plain idiotic. That is not my idea of community.

Community is a group of beings sharing a like interest. It's not a group of beings sharing 1 collective braincell. Community doesn't hold validation hostage.

Honestly, if I were the owner of that site, I'd be cringing right now. That's assuming that they don't also hold dearly to the same non-truth. Think about it. How many lurkers are reading that elitist post and seeing that negative connotation between the lines of loving pea loyalty? One poster went so far as to say that not knowing about 2peas was akin to not being serious about scrapbooking. If I were the OP, I would be checking myself in at the nearest clinic to get my head out of my...ahem... you know where I was going with that.

Scrapbooking was in existence long before computers and the world wide web sprouted up. The hobby of scrapbooking is significantly older than the owners of the 2peas site. There are lots of scrapbookers who have realized their goals of publishing and Design Team employment without the help of an affiliation with vegetables. Many of them would blow the GG offerings off the map! It's pretty obvious that those devout members of the pea-nut gallery are oblivious to the stigma of negativity and cliquish behavior that the #1 site carries, so much so that it's unfathomable that anyone would achieve any success or knowledge in the scrapbooking arena without being affiliated. Perhaps they should read that thread to gain some insight as to how anyone could possibly not want to Pea.

So at what point did the priviledge of being considered a "real" scrapbooker fall on any one online site? When did it fall on anyone other than the person who is doing the scrapbooking?

What I got from that post is that it's okay to get your start elsewhere, even if it's not from an Internet or media linked source, BUT if you don't find your way to pea-dom, then you're just playin' with your mama's make-up. I'm almost perturbed enough to use the 'A' word! Not THAT one!...the OTHER 'A' word...arrogant). I joined the site 3 years ago and it only took a couple of days to decide that it wasn't for me. I came back 2 years later, and it's still not the place for me.
I honed my skills in nurturing evironments of acceptance and none of them were named after vegitables.

I have been in an LSS and overheard Peas ask other women if they "Pea" and I've seen the looks ranging from pity to incredulity and even disgust when the answer they get is 'no' or if the person that they ask has no clue why they are being asked about their elimination practices.

It's a sad, sad world indeed when we start grasping at green straws in our attempts to somehow elevate ourselves. The next time someone that I perceived to be a pretentious prat asks me if I "pea" will no doubt here me say, "Only when I can't find someone else to kick me in the teeth".