Why are you here?

As the title states, I want to know why you’re here. For myself, I’m here because I have more fun making games than I do playing them. I started programming with Petit Computer in 2013. It was my first experience with programming. At the time all I could make was a simple calculator. It wasn’t great. Later on I made my first attempt at making a 2D portal game. The thing wasn’t very good. It was a mess of spaghetti code that functioned okay (I hope I’m a little better at coding now). It’s taken me hundreds of hours of learning to get to the point where I am now. Since then I’ve worked on learning Java Script, Python, and Pico 8. My point to all of this is that for some people Smile Basic is their first introduction to programming (as it was for me). Rather than tearing down their first creations, why not offer positive support for the effort and offer advice when needed. Creating pseudo-macho in-groups is not a great way to bring in new people to the community. If you can’t say something nice, then please be respectfully quiet. Quit trying to label people as “other” so that they can be shoved off into an out-group. Not all of us have been fortunate enough to have formal training in computer sciences. Please ask yourself this: “Am I here to inflate my self-worth by tearing down others, or am I here to learn and share what I know with others? ”. Feel free to comment.