Stripes have to be earned whether it's the military, police force, fire departments, or even corporate America. Let me know when colleges eliminate hazing.
The players who have gotten more crap than newbies, even newbies who talk a big game but play like dogs are the real life PRO PLAYERS who come in to post.
Every one of them has gotten run out and disgusted to the point where they'll never come back. NowTHAT is sick.
And who decides who gets stripes and who does not?
This is not a merit-based environment. Most people don't come here to garnish their egos with everyone else's respect. For all I know, no one here can play pool. Or everyone here could be a world beater. It doesn't matter, because instead of thinking people here need to earn respect, I prefer to start off respecting everybody. That makes it so respect isn't something to earn so much as it is something to loose.