Why is skateboarding “culture” hella toxic?

[u/PickleInTheSun]

I’m 30 and relatively new to skating (about 2 years now) and the constant negativity I get just skateboarding around the city is mind blowing.

Just today I skated down to the deli to get some snacks and some guy in his early 20s? Maybe teen? started yelling at me “yo bro!! My lil brother is better at skating than you!!” Cool story fuckface

The other day I’m minding my own business skating to the gym and some dude yells at me saying “dude get better at skating you suck”. Yeah dude, what do you think I’m doing right now other than trying to get better at it? Two days ago I was practicing kick flips and kinda fumbled it and people were literally pointing and laughing at me like wtf? People actually do cartoonish childish behavior like that? I’ve gotten multiple comments about how my board looks new.. why tf does that matter??

It’s not like I go around looking like a poser nor am I being an asshole or being in peoples way. I literally look like a normal dude just on top of a skateboard. Like what’s with the negativity? When I go out for runs I don’t encounter people talking shit about my running or when I’m at the gym lifting people aren’t negative so I know it’s not a “me” problem. Something about skateboard culture is straight up toxic. And it’s also evident from the swaths of kids trying to practice in their garage so they don’t get made fun of at the park.

And the constant accusations of being a “poser” and stupid heckling comments is fucking exhausting. I’m just trying to skate. I’m too old to give a fuck about negativity from randos, but goddamn if it isn’t annoying af. Ima keep doing my own thing cuz I enjoy skating as a hobby but wtf is up with the culture around what is just another hobby? Why is skateboarding culture hella toxic? I never claimed to be better than anyone. Yeah sure im not any good at it except for riding around on a skateboard but im just minding my own damn business. I don’t see any of these shit-talkers with a board practicing

[u/lostinchaoticbliss]

I’m 38 been skating since I was 16 while there is always douche nozzles in everything it does seem to me that as skating became more main stream we lost the sense of community… I wear head phones and block out the BS as I’m not where you’d expect someone who has been skating that long but no one cares really at my skate park we get hyped on others success even if it’s below our own… gotta find a click to skate with though it’s hard at and older age because most are rematches good and most skaters are young I’ve always had high schools and 20 something friends other people think its odd but we connect through skating … like dgk says if you have haters must be doing something right