if you are a thinned skinned geek, stay out of the general forum.
if you were beaten up in school, and your lunch money taken, stay out of the general forum.
if you cant ignore bad internet humor or razzing, stay out of the general forum.
if you were snapped with towel in the gym locker in high school and then told the teachers, stay out of the general forums.

if you want to take advantage of a monstrous body of knowledge, use all the technical forums. there is so much knowledge out there.

there is a ton of good info on arfcom.
there are a ton of people who post before they think. just like real life. ignore dumb asses and soak up the information from the smart people.

personally, i dont post too much. almost never look at the general forum. but, reloading, refinishing, 50 cal, nfa class 3, I do visit, and read. not post, unless I can contribute productively or I need some help.