I'm slowly plodding away at my PPL. I've gotten some good advice and encouragement from PPRUNE.
I hope some day I'll be able to pay it back. Like others have said, I've run away quietly sobbing from AvCanada (only joking) because for a newbie the constant
"you're crap"
"Your instructor is crap"
"no one except me and a few elite others know how to fly nowadays"
gets really disheartening , really quickly for a newcomer.
I've never been shot down for asking stupid stuff and never felt that there was anything I couldn't ask. My flight school doesn't have much of a "hanger talk" culture so I get what I can from here. I don't have the time or luck to make all the mistakes there are to make. I need to learn from other people's as well. If you have a board where people are afraid to post, no one learns anything except to keep their mouths shut.