Tommy & Megan Price writes:

I subscribed to their newsgroup mostly to learn more about HVAC so
that when the techs come to work on mine I won't think they are
speaking Cantonese.

Guild mentality. Like walking up to a trade-only sales counter trying to
buy something. You're an idiot if you're not part of the club, and we
won't sell to you. Kind of the mirror image of academic snobbery.