Message Boards Are Like High School

I've been thinking about this for awhile. There are a few message boards that I go to where I feel totally comfortable. Yet for the most part I find that they are like High School. If you are one of the 'in' group people will respond to your question, inquiry or respond to your WIP (works in progress)/HD (happy dances.) All that stuff just kind of bugs me. Someone isn't more worthy of having thier posts responded to just because they are 'popular.'