There are a few snowflakes around the forum, they do exist and make their presence felt from time to time. I'd like to think, though, that most of us are pretty resilient, and try to keep in mind that it's much harder to get someone's meaning from just a post than it would be if we had eye contact and body language and all the other signals to go by.
We'll get to know you and you'll get to know us over time, perhaps one of these days you'll feel comfortable to express yourself more naturally. In real life, I'm a fairly brash and sarcastic person, and these folks seem to have learned to interpret me just fine.
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I definitely tried to mind my manners at first, but gradually I've felt more and more comfortable.
We find even that in different areas of our own country, styles of humor and the degree to which people are outspoken (or not) varies a lot. It's always a learning process, adjusting, asking questions, sometimes even misinterpreting and allowing the viewpoints of others to put things right.
I've been glad to see you posting. We especially need people in the DIY areas; anyone new who steps in always has something to contribute to the general store of knowledge and experience. That's especially important now, to those of us in the US, since it appears that multitudes more people will need to learn how to mix their own (and perhaps build their own) pretty damn quickly, what with FDA regs on the near horizon. If memory serves you are under some tight restrictions in Oz, so perhaps you have already made this adjustment.
ETA: I just realized, my VU anniversary was a couple days ago. My badge has changed to "Member For 2 Years!!!"