PPRuNe is like the Daily Mail of the Aviation Industry, you'll find a lot of whinging, moaning and rose tinted discussions of the good old days. Heck, the good old days were probably great, but don't be disillusioned by it.
There are some great members on here, and some great advice to be gleaned.
However once you're up at 2000ft pottering around, thats when its all worth it.
I've never had hassle with any form of Air Traffic Control, in fact quite the opposite. I haven't found any problems with the JAA or EASA situation, but then I've never known anything different. I've never come across any professional pilots who have looked down upon me in my flying, but have come across many who still fly GA and have some great experience to give (and few others who have struggled to fly a SEP having not flown one in years).
The acronyms will come with time, once you've got your head stuck into the books, most of them will make sense. Sometimes you'll find people on here who rarely fly, or even have lapsed licenses who get on their high horse and tell the rest of the world how it should be done, well just ignore them.
There is another forum related to a popular aviation magazine, which is a lot more biased towards the Private Pilot and you may find it a bit more accomodating to your needs.