It is like that, yeah. And I don't have any particularly good suggestions on how to "break into that group" either, other than persistence and hence becoming a "regular" yourself.
I've always thought you should have separate sections for new user "groups" who can then talk to each other and encourage each other to continue. In so many interesting forums I've started contributing but it fizzled out because I don't feel like I've made much progression.
But I intend to stick around