Uh, Spanks, you may not recall, but you have a forum users character. That makes you a "shiny happy person", whatever the fuck that is.
Here are the major social groups of online forums of all kinds (web boards, newsgroups, chat groups, etc) as I see them:
1) The Village Elders - This small group consists of the people who have been on the forum forever, sometimes several years in the case of newsgroups. Most of them seem to be online at all times, and the volume of postings you see from them indicate that they live online and never sleep. One key thing about these people is that they tend to have such a host of running jokes that many of their conversations are utterly bewildering to those unfamiliar with them.
2) The Elder Populace - Before you evolve into a Village Elder, you fit in here. These are the people who have been around for quite a while, but are not quite furniture. They get most or all of the running jokes, but don't remember "that time when one of the elders said that thing" that got that running joke started.
3) The General Populace - These are not newbies, and are not elders. These are just the regular everyday people on most forums. They have been around long enough to get a lot of the running jokes, though they still find some of them pretty bewildering. This group is split into those who like the elders, and those who think the elders are a pack of wankers. The actual proportions of this split vary from group to group, but the ones who dislike the elders don't usually end up sticking around for very long.
4) The Youngsters - No, not an indication of age. These people are still thought of as being new, but they are not "newbies" either. Generally, these are the ones who have shown up, spent some time, and quite like a particular forum. They settle in, get comfortable, and slot into this group.
5) The Newcomers - Call them "newbies" if you like, everyone else does. They may post once and never come in again, or they may stick around and become part of the general populace... who knows?
6) The Intruders - Trolls, troublemakers, and general arseholes, nobody likes these people. Whether they are there to kill a few hours and have some nasty fun, or really want to settle in and "take control", as some delusional trolls want too do, or even piss people off with idiotic postings and comics without realising just what utter tools they are, these people all have one thing in common - they suck.
I was going to put in some sub-groups, but that about sums up the basics.