To be completely serious for a bit, this thread itself illustrates how different it is from most internet boards of my experience.
Most boards treat newbies one of two ways:
Way #1: Call this the "shut the eff up, newbie" approach. Don't speak unless you're spoken to. Don't speak until you know how everyone hear rolls and stay shut up until you speak like the rest of us. Learn how to conform, or we don't want you.
Way #2: Call this "say what you want but you're a newbie, and I and my guys, we like us and your job is to kiss our butts" approach. If you haven't contributed X times (X →∞), we really aren't going to pay attention. We're the cool clique. If you aren't our kind of cool, you're not worth our time.
This place does neither. Oh, sure, people here will nudge you to listen for awhile (see NSD, above), to not judge us too quick. But only while they're paying serious attention to you. People read *and* contribute to the "new members" threads. Yes, we know topic X has been treated before -- topic X gets treated on pretty much every board on the Packers, after all -- but we like talking about topic X again. Person Y might hate topic X, but in general the board has lots of people who aren't at all tired of topic X. And if topic X becomes too dominant, Kevin is real good about knowing when to split it off into a sub-forum (see,e.g Brett Favre).
And while we are all Packers fans (well, except for vikesrule, Formo, and polargrizz), we're also people who have and like to share their other interests. We don't just hang out with each other for 3 hours each fall weekend; we like to hang out together and talk about other things.
If someone hangs out here much, you realize that PH is an amazingly diverse place -- and not just because we have a couple VIkings fans and a Bear fan here. But we're not only diverse, but we actually enjoy each other's differences. Rarely do people take themselves too seriously; but almost always people take each other more than seriously enough.
It may be online, but PackersHome isn't a "virtual" community.
It's real.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)